To Heal the Heart
by theghoulthatwrites
Summary: Lucy hides the fact that she is depressed from her guild and only Laxus knows why. Suffering from one of her frequent 'attacks' she dreams of Aquarius and is found by an unlikely person. Now, Bickslow knows what happened and is determined to help Lucy in any way he came. After all, he loves her. Post Tartarus arc. Rating may change, possible future lemons.
1. Chapter 1

_/"text"/-_ **Past/Dream**

 _'text'-_ **Thoughts**

 **Standard disclaimer: I own nothing besides the plot.**

 **Enjoy~**

* * *

Lucy Heartfilia didn't have the best childhood before she ran away from her father, but she did find her true family at Fairy Tail. It was widely believed that Lucy, the "Light of Fairy Tail," was in a perpetual state of happiness; she was kind, compassionate, and put her guild mate's happiness before her own. In a way this was true; Lucy did focus on others' lives before her own, but that came with a price. Nobody could have predicted that the light of the guild would ever go out, and they didn't.

Growing up in a house with an all but estranged father, Lucy learned to internalize her feelings. She knew that she could talk to the maids and butlers, but she didn't want to feel like they listened just because her father paid their salary. Nobody knew about Lucy's problems, she was alone until the day she stole her keys from her father and ran away. But even with the company of her beloved spirits, Lucy still refused to open up to anybody. It wasn't until she saved Loke that somebody took notice of the periodic blank expressions, not a single emotion flickering across her face. Loke tried to help her.

 _/"Princess, you need to open up and get rid of those feelings inside," he begged. It was killing him and the other spirits, especially Aquarius, who had become a sort of mother figure to Lucy. To see their owner slowly deteriorating into an emotionless doll without being able to help her was the worst pain any of them had gone through._

 _"Loke, I'm not entirely sure what you're talking about, but I'm fine," she would respond, smiling softly at her spirit. "There are more important things to do than talk about something that isn't relevant." /_

No matter how many times her spirits would attempt to talk about it, she would refuse saying that it wasn't important or that she could handle this on her own. But that was wrong, and Lucy knew it. She knew that she couldn't rid herself of those melancholic feelings.

Her team was blissfully unaware of their teammate's predicament. Natsu couldn't even smell any hint of negative emotion from Lucy, and Dragon Slayer's noses were never wrong. Except he was too dense to actually watch Lucy; it was obvious that there was something wrong when she would become uncharacteristically silent, not even getting mad at Happy when he called her fat. But, of course, everybody assumed that it was just an off day for the Celestial Mage, reasoning that she was tired, sick, or PMS-ing. During those times, Lucy was left alone.

Lucy had become an expert at controlling what her guild mates saw about her. She never showed anything close to sadness when she was at the guild or around her team; she was the normally cheerful and kind Lucy Heartfilia they had always known. However, after the battle with Tartarus, Lucy was finding it increasingly difficult to maintain that image.

Lucy never told anyone what happened during the battle, not even the master. Nobody knew that she was forced to break Aquarius' key in order to summon the Spirit King and save her family, aside from her spirits and one other person. She wore the broken key around her neck, hiding it from view with modest t-shirts and sweaters. Not even then did anyone take special notice of her demeanor. Of course there were shocked expressions the first time she went to the guild dressed in capris and a high-necked shirt, but the interest was lost when she acted as though nothing was out of ordinary.

/ / /

Today was no different than any other day at the guild; Natsu and Gray were fighting, Cana was guzzling barrel after barrel of beer, the usual chaos throughout the hall. Lucy sat at the bar, sipping her strawberry milkshake and watching the activity around her. She smiled slightly as Natsu attempted to coerce Laxus in another fight he was sure to lose. _'Some things never change,'_ she thought. She watched as Laxus punched the other Dragon Slayer across the room, not even using magic, and made his way to the bar.

"You know he's going to be annoyed that you didn't even use magic right?" she asked as the older man sat on the stool next to her.

Laxus ordered a beer from Mira and took a gulp before answering, "Ain't my fault he can't take a punch from me."

"That's true," she laughed.

They sat in silence, drinking from their beverages, while Lucy thought about the mage beside her. The first time she met Laxus during the battle of Fairy Tail, she disliked him. He was arrogant and rude, treating his guild mates like trash because they were weak in his eyes. But after he helped defeat Grimoire Heart, Lucy began to see the changes he had gone through since being exiled from the guild. In the time between the Grand Magic Games and the present, she had grown closer to the lightning Dragon Slayer. It went from simply acknowledging the other's presence to occasionally talking, ending with an almost sibling-like bond. Laxus was the only person outside her spirits that knew about Aquarius and the effects it had on Lucy. _'I never thought I'd refer to Laxus of all people as my brother,'_ she laughed to herself. _'But I'm happy that it happened.'_

"So how's it been going?" she heard him ask, interrupting her trip down memory lane.

Lucy shrugged impassively. "It's been good, for the most part. Can't complain, really."

"Blondie, you know what I'm really asking about," he huffed, "now spill it."

Sighing, Lucy twirled her straw as she avoided Laxus' stare. Just loud enough for only him to hear, she whispered, "It's getting worse."

He watched as she stared into her glass as if the milkshake held all the answers. "How so?"

"It's getting harder to act like nothing's wrong," she admitted, still not looking at him. "And the 'attacks' are happening more often."

Laxus felt his heart break at the sight of the girl he considered his little sister so despondent. He wished there was some way for him to help her, other than just talking; he wanted to take Lucy away from all the feelings of guilt, sadness, loneliness, worthlessness, and keep her safe and happy. Being a Dragon Slayer, second generation or not, meant that Laxus had a very intense desire to protect his family from everything bad and hurtful. Of course, he would do that for almost anybody in the guild now, but it was different with Lucy. His inner dragon had claimed the Celestial Mage as kin, the only thing more important than a mate. There was no way Laxus could just sit back and hope, but there was also no obvious way for him to help.

"I actually went to the doctor a few weeks ago," she continued, "and he prescribed medication, but it's not working yet. All it's done is make me eat less and at weird times."

"Is that why you've lost weight and made me bring you food at 3 am the other night?" he asked.

Lucy smiled ruefully. "Yeah, sorry about that. I didn't have any food at my place at the time."

"Isn't it lucky that you have such an amazing big brother to take care of you?" Laxus grinned. "Seriously, though. I love you, but if your team finds out and throws a fit, I'm gonna have to teach them a lesson."

"I know, I know. It's been months and they still haven't figured it out, I don't understand that," Lucy murmured, shaking her head. Glancing around the room to make sure nobody was looking, Lucy hopped off the stool and threw the jewels for her drink on the bar. "I think I'm going to go for a walk, being around so many people is suffocating right now."

"As long as you're back here or at home by dark," he said, sounding like the overprotective brother he was.

"Whatever you say, big brother!" Lucy gave him a quick hug and pecked his cheek before turning towards the exit. "I'll call you if something happens or I need you!"

Laxus watched the once-bubbly blonde walk out of the guild, fast enough for nobody to stop her. Sighing, he stood up and wandered to the table where his team was sitting. He knew he couldn't follow her, that would only make her angry, but Laxus couldn't help but feel like she shouldn't be left alone. He knew the signs of when her mood was worsening; it was the only time she never looked him in the eye.

"Hello Laxus," Freed greeted as Laxus flopped into the seat across from him, grunting his own greeting. "Is something wrong?"

Laxus debated on what to tell his team. He could always use the excuse of too much paperwork, but didn't feel like lying to his teammates. Freed would freak out, thinking he had done something wrong to upset him and Evergreen would just pester him incessantly until he told the truth. Bickslow would have accepted it, he never pried in Laxus' personal business but would wait until Laxus said something. He looked up from his beer to find his Freed and Evergreen looking at him expectantly. Sighing, Laxus decided to give them part of the truth.

"I'm worried about Blondie, that's all," he stated bluntly. He watched as their eyes widened slightly and said, "What?"

"Forgive me, Laxus, but why are you worried about Miss Lucy?" Freed inquired, recovering from the slight shock.

"What, I can't be worried about a guild mate?" Laxus shot back, peeved. _'It's not like I'm always an asshole, jeez.'_

"That's not what he meant, Laxus," Evergreen cut in, saving Freed from embarrassing himself for making Laxus angry. "It's just that there's really nothing to worry about, she's always happy, isn't she?"

He scoffed at her statement. "Yeah, Blondie is **never** in a bad mood."

"You don't have to be a dick, we were just wondering," she quipped.

Laxus sighed and silently drank his beer, ignoring the pointed stares of Freed and Evergreen.

Bickslow stayed silent as Freed and Evergreen pestered Laxus for information, noting his best friend's mood. He could tell that whatever was going on with Lucy was really bothering him, even if Laxus tried to pass it off as routine guild mate concern. _'Damn, the hell did Cosplayer do to get Laxus worried about her?'_ Without drawing attention to himself, Bickslow called one of his babies over to him.

"I need you to follow Cosplayer, but don't let her catch you," he told it.

"Yes! Follow Lucy!" The little totem, Pip, bobbed up and down excitedly before zooming out of an open window to follow the Celestial Mage's soul.

As he watched Pip disappear out the window, Bickslow told himself that he was only doing it for Laxus' sake. The man was painfully obvious in his worry about the young woman, so of course Bickslow was going to do anything to help his best friend out. But he was lying, and he knew it. It wasn't just because Laxus was worried that he sent Pip after her, but because he was worried as well. He did it because he cared deeply for the girl. Bickslow, big pervert that he was, watched the people around him. He was able to see souls, to see how their emotions changed it, though he rarely used that ability outside of battle. But with the way Lucy had been acting lately, Bickslow decided he could take a peek at what her soul looked like. Lucy's soul was usually a bright pink color with large swirls of gold, but lately it had been losing its gold and slowly dimming.

 _'Well now we wait,'_ he mused.

/ / /

Lucy stretched her arms over her head as she strolled through the streets of Magnolia, smiling at the shopkeepers and the children running around. When she reached the park, she went to her favorite spot, where she knew nobody was. Past the big fountain and benches, towards the back of the park, was a cluster of shrubs that concealed a hidden treasure. There was a small clearing encircled by trees and shrubs, with soft grass and random patches of wildflowers. She relaxed as she pushed her way through the leaves and laid in the grass.

 _'I'm glad I found this place,'_ she thought. It was the only place that she could go without Natsu sniffing her out; she made sure to plant very fragrant flowers that would conceal her scent after she first found the space. Not even Laxus knew where this was, she only told him that she found a special spot and he trusted her. This was the only place that she could truly be alone, even her spirits knew not to pop unless called.

Yawning lightly, she closed her eyes and let the warmth of the sun lull her to sleep. Despite the peaceful atmosphere around her, she dreamt.

 _/"What can I do?! I need to help my friends!" Lucy cried, sitting in the middle of the destroyed building, her friends injured and unconscious mere feet away from her. "There has to be something!"_

 _As she was wracking her mind for an answer, Aquarius watched her with a thoughtful expression. As one of her oldest spirits, Aquarius watched Lucy grow up from a scared little girl to the strong, confident woman she was today. It was because of this that Aquarius was willing to make the sacrifice. She hovered next to her master, observing the destruction around them._

 _"Lucy, you have to summon the Spirit King," she stated bluntly._

 _Lucy froze and looked up at her oldest friend. "But... That would mean breaking one of the Zodiac keys! How could I decide to do that?!"_

 _"Use my key."_

 _Shocked, Lucy fell silent with her eyes wide, staring up at her spirit. Regaining her voice, she shook her head furiously and pleaded, "NO! I can't do that Aquarius, I don't want to lose any of my spirits!"_

 _"Sure you can," the mermaid responded. "It's not like I'm gonna die; you just won't be able to summon me anymore."_

 _"NO I DON'T WAN'T TO; I WON'T!" Lucy screamed, tears cascading down her cheeks, merging with the blood on her face._

 _Aquarius clucked her tongue and turned to look the girl in the eye. "Look, brat. You know I don't like you, I've always hated you."_

 _"I-I know that," Lucy stuttered. "I don't care if you hated me, I've always loved you!"_

 _"DO YOU WANT TO SAVE YOUR GUILD OR NOT?! THIS IS YOUR ONLY OPTION BESIDES DEATH!"_

 _Sobbing, Lucy shakily felt the ground for the key she dropped. Lifting it into the air, Lucy called out the incantation, "OPEN... GATE OF THE SPIRIT KING!"_

 _Aquarius and her water disappeared as a blinding light erupted around the key, shattering part of it, leaving the giant Spirit King when it faded._

 _"AQUARIUS!"/_

Lucy shot up into a sitting position, panting and sweating as if she ran a marathon. She frantically looked around the clearing and saw that she had been asleep for a few hours; the sun had begun to set, leaving behind its subtle red light. Silently, tears spilled from her eyes.

"Aquarius..." Her voice came out a choked sob as she buried her head in her knees, clutching the broken key hanging around her neck. She could feel her keys heat up comfortingly at her waist, but was unable to face her other spirits, especially Loke.

She cried, curled into herself, for what felt like hours before the leaves behind her suddenly rustled. Sniffing, she cleaned her face with her hands and turned looked behind her. She watched as a tall figure slowly approached her, her eyes widening in shock when she saw who it was.

"Bickslow...?"

"Yo, Cosplayer."

/ / /

It had been hours since Lucy left the guild with Pip tailing her. Pip had kept in contact with Bickslow as she walked to the park; reporting every time she stopped or smiled and finally when she reached the clearing. In the hours that Lucy had been asleep, Bickslow didn't hear anything from Pip and was beginning to worry even more.

He looked over at Laxus and saw that he wasn't faring much better. Laxus was silent with a blank face, ignoring Freed's attempt to get his attention; he hadn't even gotten another beer since he sat down. _'What the hell is she doing?'_

Bickslow was irritated that he hadn't followed her himself; he was also slightly annoyed that Laxus hadn't gone after her either. But he reasoned that Laxus most likely knew what was going on and that Lucy wouldn't want him to follow her. While he was stewing in his self-directed irritation, he heard Pip's voice enter his head.

"Bickslow!" it called worriedly. "Lucy cry!"

As soon as he heard her name, Bickslow jumped up from his seat and ran for the doors. Pip told him where they were and he wasted no time in getting there.

Laxus looked up from his beer when Bickslow stood up, and knew by the look on the man's face, that it was Lucy. He knew about his best friend's feelings for his little sister, he also knew that he had sent one of his babies after her. So as soon as Bickslow ran out the doors, Laxus did the same. Deep down, he felt that something was wrong, but he had decided to leave Lucy alone, knowing that having somebody pester her would get them nowhere.

It was bothering Laxus that he couldn't smell Lucy very well. He picked up traces of her scent as he followed Bickslow, but he couldn't pinpoint exactly where she was. Stopping momentarily, he took a deep breath, hoping that he would catch her strawberry and vanilla scent, but there was nothing more than the faint trace he had picked up before. Pushing his worry aside, Laxus took off after Bickslow again.

/ / /

"Yo, Cosplayer."

Bickslow spoke lowly as he carefully made his way towards the previously crying girl, his babies hovering above him. He didn't know how to comfort upset women; Evergreen usually yelled at them until they decided to just give up. But he couldn't just stand there and pretend she wasn't crying; he had to do something.

Stopping a few feet from her, he cleared his throat and asked the only thing he could think of: "Are you okay, Cosplayer?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," she answered too quickly, putting on a strained smile. "What are you doing here?"

"I had Pip follow you," he explained, shrugging. Pip came forward and rested on Bickslow's shoulder.

"Follow Lucy!" it chirped.

Before Lucy could respond Laxus barreled through the shrubs, letting out a relieved breath when he saw her unharmed. Ignoring his friend he marched up to Lucy and kneeled in front of her.

"You smell like a salt lick, Blondie. Are you okay?"

Lucy giggled half-heartedly before looking up at her brother. "It happened again."

Laxus studied her face closely, catching the tears still swimming in her eyes. He sighed, "You were supposed to call me if something happened."

"I know..." She looked down, slightly ashamed. "I'm sorry, big brother."

"Uh, I hate to rain on the feelings parade," Bickslow spoke up, "but will somebody tell me what the hell is going on? And why is Cosplayer calling Laxus 'big brother'?"

He had been so silent while they talked that Lucy and Laxus forgot he was still there. Laxus looked at Lucy, raising an eyebrow in question.

Lucy shook her head and whispered, "Not here."

Laxus nodded and gathered his little sister in his arms before standing and gesturing for Bickslow to follow them. "Where do you want to go?"

"What the fuck is going on?" Bickslow asked again.

His question was ignored once again as Lucy pondered. Making her decision, she buried her head in Laxus' shoulder and answered. "Your house. I don't want Natsu and the rest to show up randomly."

Bickslow raised his eyebrow, unseen because of his helmet, as Laxus snorted his agreement and began walking away. They had made it to the shrubs when he finally snapped out of his confused stupor and quickly followed the two blonds.

/ / /

It was a silent walk from the park to Laxus' house, one that seemed to drag on and on for the confused Seith Mage. When the trio finally arrived, Bickslow trudged into the living room and flopped down on the couch, his babies settling near him. He waited for Laxus to situate himself and Lucy in the armchairs across from him before he spoke.

"So, wha-" Bickslow was cut off as a bright light shone for a few seconds before dissipating, leaving Loke in its wake. He grumbled, irritated that his questions still weren't being answered, but stopped when Laxus gave him a warning glare.

"Princess," Loke greeted, bowing over her hand.

"Loke," she nodded. Lucy knew why he was here, in part anyway.

Loke smiled slightly and held out an envelope and a lollipop. "From Aquarius and Plue, my Princess."

Lucy's breath hitched when he said the mermaid spirit's name and reached for the items with trembling hands. "Thank you, Loke. Please tell Plue that I will call him soon."

"Your wish is my command," he drawled. He leaned down to give Lucy a quick hug and whisper in her ear, "Read it when you're alone or just you and Laxus."

With that he returned to his own world in the same flash of light he arrived with.

Lucy tucked the letter from Aquarius in her shirt until she was ready to read it and summoned Plue. The shaky dog spirit appeared in Lucy's lap, immediately nuzzling into her neck as she cuddled him.

"Pu-Puun." Lucy giggled softly as the little snowman made himself comfortable in her arms, dropping a kiss on his head. Taking a deep breath, she looked up at the man across from her.

"What do you want to know?"

Bickslow forced his attention from the spirit almost suffocating in her chest to her face. He had a lot of questions to ask her, but figured it would be best to start with the easiest. "Why do you call Laxus your brother?"

"After the Grand Magic Games, I thanked him for defeating Flare, even if he did it because Raven Tail threatened his guild," she explained, smiling at Laxus. "From there, I started talking to him more until we became friends. We didn't really have a sibling relationship until he found me crying, like you did."

"Except she was in the woods and not the park, where it's **safer** ," Laxus commented, glaring pointedly at Lucy's sheepish grin.

"Okay..." Bickslow's eyes flickered between Lucy and Laxus, noticing their easy interaction. "So what were you crying about?"

Lucy's face fell, a small frown tugged at her lips, as she broke eye contact and played with Plue's paws. She looked up when Laxus flicked her forehead.

"Do you want me to tell him?" he offered.

"No... I'll do it." She took a deep breath and blinked to get rid of the tears lingering in her eyes. Looking at Bickslow, she asked, "When you, Laxus, and the rest of your team were poisoned by that demon, the rest of us went to fight Tartarus. Did you know that there was a time when we were almost defeated by three of those demons while we were in the Cube?"

She waited for Bickslow's nod before she continued. "But do you know how we avoided that?"

"Natsu said you did something, but he didn't know what; nobody does."

Lucy nodded. "Laxus is the only one that knows what I did, not even Master knows."

"Only Laxus?" Bickslow looked at his friend who nodded solemnly and patted Lucy's shoulder. "What did you do?"

Still playing with Plue's paws, Lucy swallowed heavily and said, "I summoned the Spirit King."

Bickslow blinked, still confused. She said it so simply, as if it wasn't a big deal, but anyone would be able to see the hurt and despair on her face. "But isn't that a good thing? You saved yourself and the rest of the guild that was there."

"I did," she agreed. "But summoning the Spirit King comes at a great cost."

Bickslow was confused. _'Doesn't he have a key like the other spirits?'_ he wondered to himself.

Lucy smiled ruefully as she continued her explanation. "The Spirit King doesn't have a physical key like the other spirits. The only way to summon him is a substitution summoning; you have to sacrifice a golden key, one of the Zodiac keys. And to do that, the mage needs to be powerful and have a strong trust bond with the key being sacrificed."

"So... you sacrificed one of your Zodiac spirits?" She nodded, a tear escaping her eye and rolling down her cheek. "... Which one?"

Laxus rubbed his sister's back softly as she gave up and let the tears flow. Shakily, Lucy released one of Plue's paws and reached into her shirt, pulling out the remnants of Aquarius' key. "Aquarius told me to use her key, and I did."

Bickslow stared at the broken key hanging from a chain around her neck. He was shocked that Lucy made that sacrifice for her guild mates. He knew how much her spirits meant to her, the whole guild knew. "Cosp-"

Lucy let out a choked sob, interrupting whatever he was going to say. She buried her face in her hands, sobbing uncontrollably for the second time that day. Plue was frantically trying to calm her down.

"Pun!" He tried to burrow his face between her arms, cooing sadly.

Lucy tried to smile at the little snowman in her lap, but her lips trembled from holding in her tears. She gave up attempting to smile and wrapped her arms around her spirit, clutching him to her chest as sobs wracked her body. Lucy felt Bickslow staring at her, but refused to look at him. _'He'll think you're weak for crying like this,'_ she told herself. She froze when a pair of arms wrapped around her, but calmed as she felt herself being lifted and settled in the familiar arms of her brother.

Laxus held the distraught girl on his lap, resting his chin on her head as she cried into his chest. Looking over at his friend, he sighed and told him, "I'm going to put her in bed, we'll see you tomorrow at the guild."

Bickslow nodded mutely and stood up, heading for the door.

"Bix," Laxus called, "if you tell anybody about this, you will wish you'd never found out. Got it?"

Said mage paused and turned his head back to the two blondes. He looked from Lucy, whose cries had quieted into sniffles and hiccups, to Laxus. He could see the warning in the Dragon Slayer's eyes; see the promise of pain if he dared to speak about this publicly.

"Got it, Boss."

/ / /

Bickslow stumbled into his home in a daze, his mind still processing what he learned. If Lucy hadn't sacrificed Aquarius' key, they would all be dead; Tartarus would have succeeded in taking magic from Earthland and reviving E.N.D. He'd known she was strong, she'd fought him twice and won, but her strength was on a different level now. She went against everything she believed in order to save her family, whereas others wouldn't have to think twice; but Lucy had that strength.

His respect for the Celestial Mage grew tremendously; he respected her now almost as much as he did Laxus. As he laid in bed, Bickslow thought about her soul; one of the purest he had ever seen was steadily losing its light and he couldn't stand it. He vowed to himself that he would do everything in his power to rekindle the Light of Fairy Tail; he **did** like her as more than a friend, after all.

* * *

 **Hiiiiiiii y'all. I've got finals starting this week, so I thought I would leave a little something to hold you over until I'm on summer break!**

 **I've had the idea of this fic for a long time, actually. Lucy developed depression throughout her childhood, but was hella good at hiding it until the Tartarus arc and the Aquarius incident. The reason behind this fic originally was that I wanted a way to cope with my own issues through a diary of sorts, and writing as Lucy just seemed perfect. I used a couple personal symptoms and will probably continue doing so. But, because I am a huge sap and a shipping dumpster, I had to put in some romance. Bixlu is one of my favorite Lucy crack ships, and tbh I feel like he would understand her depression (especially her bond with her spirits). And brother/sister Lalu is a just a perk; I LOVE the idea of them having that kind of relationship almost as much as I love that crack pairing.**

 **Truth be told, I don't really know where I'm going with this story, but I'm willing to give it a shot. This is actually the longest single chapter I have ever written and I hope to make future chapters the same way.**

 **With that said, I hope you enjoy reading this and please don't be afraid to comment what you think; constructive criticism is always welcome! Thank you for reading and putting up with me, I couldn't ask for better readers. ^ ^**

 **With love,**

 **Lau** **( ˘ ³˘)**

 **PS: if anybody is too OOC, please tell me and I will try to fix it. I want them to be as in character I can possibly make them.**

 **Tschüss!**


	2. Chapter 2

"speech"

 _'thought'_

 _/"past"/_

 **"other"**

* * *

The sun shone through the curtains, casting its morning light over the bed, illuminating the face of the blonde head protruding from the sheets. Lucy scrunched her eyes, trying to block the unwanted light and go back to sleep. She heard clattering in the kitchen and decided she might as well get out of bed. Disoriented, Lucy looked around the room and realized she wasn't in her apartment. There was no pink-haired Dragon Slayer in her bed or blue Exceed raiding her fridge. Shaking the lingering slumber from her head, she looked around the room again, this time noticing some of her clothes hanging in the open closet.

"That's right, I stayed at Laxus' house," she mumbled. _'How did I forget that?'_

Slipping out of the bed, she wandered to the closet, picked out a random outfit, and left the room to take a shower. Entering the bathroom just across the hall, she set her clothes on the counter and locked the door behind her. She turned on the water and undressed as she waited for it to reach her desired temperature. Satisfied with the heat, Lucy stepped in and picked up her body wash, lathering it in a wash cloth before scrubbing the dirt from her body. _'I guess sleeping in the grass still gets you dirty if you don't move that much.'_ When she finished washing her body, she squeezed some shampoo onto her hand and began washing her hair. As she worked the shampoo into a lather and through her hair, she thought about the likelihood of her showering at Laxus' house before he was exiled.

Laxus' house wasn't huge, but it was definitely bigger than her apartment. It was two stories with four bedrooms and two and a half bathrooms. The master bedroom was on the first floor, the other three on the second. Lucy used the biggest of the three bedrooms upstairs whenever she stayed over; Laxus had dubbed it "Blondie's Room" and refused to let his team in it. It wouldn't have bothered Lucy for someone else to use the room, but the Raijinshuu didn't know she would stay here. She spent the night so often that she left a few sets of clothes in the closet and her toiletries, the body wash and shampoo/conditioner. If it was the Laxus before the Fantasia incident, she would be dead a hundred times over for stepping foot into his house; even **knowing** where it was.

She laughed as she rinsed her hair, glad that she was able to have a sibling relationship with the burly Dragon Slayer. Through the sound of the running water she heard her name being called up the stairs. _'Speak of the devil.'_ Quickly, she conditioned her hair and turned off the shower.

"Blondie, if you don't hurry the hell up you don't get any breakfast!"

Wrapping a towel around herself, she cracked the door open and called back, "We both know you wouldn't let me starve, Lax, so that threat doesn't work!"

She listened as the man grumbled about "annoying little sisters" and grinned triumphantly. After drying off her body, Lucy wrapped the towel around her hair and got dressed for the day. She quickly slipped into her undergarments then carefully clasped the chain around her neck, the key resting between her breasts. Pausing, she softly touched the key, wishing that she could see the mermaid spirit if only to be washed away by her water. Mentally shaking herself off, she put on the rest of her clothes; a dark purple button-up with only one button open and pair of off-white capris, making sure her chain was hidden. She heard Laxus calling her again so she quickly towel dried her hair and ran a brush through it before skipping down the stairs.

"I'm here, I'm here," she greeted, rolling her eyes. "Jeez, I didn't take that long."

She took a seat and braided her hair to one side as Laxus grunted and placed a plate of waffles in front of her. Happily, she dug into her breakfast, aware of how closely her brother was watching her. _'Probably worried about the appetite thing from the medicine,'_ she shrugged. _'Speaking of, I need to take it.'_

Suddenly a glass of milk and her pill bottle were placed in front of her. She gave Laxus a grateful smile and finished her waffles before taking the medicine.

"So," she started once she finished, pushing the plate towards Laxus. "What are we doing today?"

Laxus picked up the plate and set it in the sink before answering, "We're going to the guild, obviously. But you should probably read that letter from the mermaid woman."

Lucy had almost forgotten about the letter Loke handed to her, out of sight out of mind. Nodding, she jumped from her seat and dashed up the stairs to get the letter from her dirty shirt, coming back down just as quickly. She looked at the letter, that usual feeling of sorrow and worthlessness washing over her. Laxus cleared his throat to get her attention and gestured for her to open the letter. Carefully, she broke the seal and unfolded the paper.

 **"Listen, brat."**

Lucy giggled. _'A very "Aquarius" way to start a letter, that's for sure.'_

 **"You need to stop blaming yourself for what happened. We can sense your emotions and it is damn depressing over here with you constantly crying. Leo's one more tear away from bringing you to the Spirit World to cheer you up and it's getting annoying. I understand why you're sad, but you gotta at least tone it down a little. I willingly offered my key so you could summon Stascheface and you know I'm not dead. You'll probably end up coming here eventually for something so don't act like you'll never see me again. Now suck it up and go find a man. Also, don't call Scorpio for a couple weeks, we're going on a vacation-date."**

 _'If only it were that easy, Aquarius,'_ she mused, refolding the letter. Aquarius' letter did help her feel a little bit better, but not enough to make her stop thinking of other things. She sighed, tucking the letter into her bra, and looked up at Laxus and his raised eyebrow.

"I'm fine; let's go to the guild," she chirped, sliding off her seat to put her shoes on and walk out the door.

Laxus shook his head and did the same, locking the door behind them. They walked in a comfortable silence for a few minutes, Lucy watching the woods around her and Laxus watching her.

"What did the letter say?" he asked, breaking the silence. He watched as the corner of Lucy's mouth lifted slightly.

"That I need to 'suck it up and go find a man'," she quoted, putting on her best Aquarius impression.

Laxus snorted. "No man is touching you until he goes through me."

"Aww, big brother Laxus loves his little sister," Lucy cooed, reaching up to pinch his cheek and laughing when he swatted her hand away. They fell silent again; this time Lucy was thinking about her guild mates. She paled slightly when she remembered that there was one guild mate in particular that now knew her secret. She tugged on Laxus' sleeve to get his attention. "Lax?"

"Hn?"

Lucy bit her lip nervously. "Do you think Bickslow said anything about yesterday?"

Laxus turned to his little sister and placed a hand on her head, ruffling her hair. "Don't worry, Blondie. I already told him not to tell anyone or I would make him regret ever knowing."

"If you say so..."

He sighed and grabbed her wrist, effortlessly pulling her in the direction of the guild hall. _'Damn pervert just_ _ **had**_ _to find out.'_

 _/ / /_

After they arrived at the guild, Laxus went up to his office to do paperwork and Lucy sat at the bar, drinking a strawberry milkshake. She watched Mira take orders and serve other guild mates, her still reeling at the conversation with the barmaid just as she sat down.

 _/"Good morning, Mira!" Lucy hopped up onto a barstool and smiled at the barmaid. "Can I get a strawberry milkshake, please?"_

 _Mira looked up from the spotless glass she was polishing and smiled happily at the girl. She set the glass down and went to the kitchen, her melodic voice drifting from the room. "Of course, Lucy. Just give me one minute!"_

 _As she waited, Lucy looked around the guild, slightly relieved that her overbearing team hadn't shown up yet. She really did love her team; they were her family, her best friends. But they were beginning to notice that she talked to Laxus often and she didn't want to deal with their overprotective ways at the moment. Ruefully, she considered it a blessing that they weren't present when she arrived with Laxus._

 _"Here you go, Lucy!" Mira placed the milkshake in front Lucy, distracting her from her thoughts. Lucy smiled and thank her, sipping her fruity treat. Mira folded her arms on the bar and leaned towards Lucy. "So..."_

 _"...What?" Lucy eyed the older woman warily._

 _"I noticed you came in with Laxus today," she chirped. "Do you like him?"_

 _Lucy sighed. It was only a matter of time until Fairy Tail's resident matchmaker set her sights on the poor blonde girl. "No, Mira. We ran into each other at the doors and just walked in at the same time, nothing special."_

 _"Oh, but I've seen you talking to him a lot recently," she argued, winking._

 _"Mira, no." Lucy groaned._

 _"But the little blond haired, blue eyed babies!" Mira gushed at the prospect of becoming an aunt. "Or blond haired, brown eyed babies!"_

 _She had to stop the barmaid before everybody heard what she was saying. Looking around the room frantically, Lucy searched for some way to end the conversation. Fortunately, the Raijinshuu had just walked in, giving Lucy the escape she sought. "Mira, the Raijinshuu are here; you should go take their order."_

 _Mira stopped her chattering and sighed, giving Lucy the "this conversation isn't over" glare as she walked over to the Raijinshuu's table._

'That should stop her for a while, at least...' _One could only hope./_

Lucy scoffed at the idea of any other type of relationship with Laxus. There was no way that would ever work, they were too alike to balance each other out. And being brother and sister suited them perfectly.

"Besides, I like somebody else," she mumbled under her breath. Lucy had known for a while, how she felt about a certain guild mate. At first she chalked it up to curiosity, Seith magic was almost, if not more, rare than Celestial magic. But as time went on, she found herself noticing other things about him. He wasn't as perverted and crude as he let on; he used that as a front. Lucy figured he was just insecure about something, most likely his eyes. She guessed that nobody was comfortable seeing eyes that they knew could control them. _'And he always wears that stupid chunk of metal over his face.'_

Something tugged on the hem of Lucy's shirt, bringing her out of her reverie.

"Aunt Lucy," she heard a sweet voice call.

Lucy looked down and smiled at the little girl. She picked her up, giving her a kiss before setting her on the bar next to her. "Hi there, Asuka. What can Aunt Lucy do for you today?"

Asuka grinned and reached over to play with Lucy's braid. In her adorable voice, she asked, "Can I play with Aquarius today?"

Lucy's smiled faltered slightly, as it always did if somebody mentioned that name. Keeping a smile, albeit it a strained one, on her face, answered the little girl's innocent question.

"I'm afraid not, sweetie. I can't summon Aquarius right now..." Inwardly she flinched as her voice cracked just barely at the words 'summon Aquarius.' It pained her see Asuka's face fall, but there was nothing she could do to prevent it.

"Aw, come on, Luce. What's the harm in summoning the angry mermaid?" Another voice said as its owner slung an arm around Lucy's shoulders. "Oh, can you summon Loke, too? I wanna fight him!"

Lucy would know that voice and abnormally warm arm anywhere; Natsu Dragneel. She swallowed the lump in her throat and shrugged his arm from her shoulders, turning to face him.

"No, Natsu, I can't."

"But why nooooot?" he whined. He pointed to Asuka and said, "Look at her face, do you really want her to be sad?"

Lucy cringed; he was right, she didn't want Asuka to be sad but it was out of her hands now. She could never summon Aquarius again, but they didn't know that; she didn't want them to know that. She looked at her two companions apologetically.

"I'm sorry Asuka, but Aquarius is on a date with Scorpio today. And Natsu, it's Loke's day off, so I won't summon him," she said. It wasn't completely a lie; Aquarius **was** on a date with Scorpio. But it wasn't actually Loke's day off; he didn't really have one, saying that he would come whenever his Princess called. She felt his key heat up on her hip, but she ignored it.

"You're no fun, Luce," Natsu pouted until he swore he heard Gray talking about him and immediately started a fight with him.

Asuka nodded glumly and Lucy kissed her head before setting her on the floor, watching her waddle back to her parents. She waved at Bisca and Alzack, giving them an apologetic smile, and turned back to her drink. She didn't know when she started crying so she was surprised to feel a tear silently rolling down her cheek.

 _'Damn. And I was having a decent day,'_ she cursed herself, furiously wiping her eyes. _'I'm crying too much lately.'_ She thought about going to Laxus' office, but didn't want to distract him from the mountain of paperwork the master left for him. And he didn't want her going anywhere alone for a while after what happened yesterday. Thus, left with no alternative, she decided to wash her face and deal with the strange looks she would get. She had barely gotten off the bar stool when a large hand wrapped around her wrist.

Only slightly surprised, she slowly turned and lifted her head to look at the only other person besides Laxus that she could be completely honest with; Bickslow.

/ / /

Bickslow wasn't sure how he felt about seeing the blonde Celestial Mage. He didn't know how he was supposed to act around her now. If he treated her like glass, she would get angry; if he treated her like he didn't know, he had no idea how she would react to that. Frustrated, he resolved to just wait and figure it out after he saw her.

He walked into the guild, eyes searching for the girl, and calmed slightly when he saw that she was smiling, even if it didn't reach her eyes. Satisfied, he joined Freed and Evergreen upstairs, his babies hovering around him as always. _'Laxus must be working if he's not here, or with her.'_ Now that he knew what was between Laxus and Lucy, he wasn't going to worry. It was petty of him, and he knew that, but he couldn't help but think there was something else between the two. He was relieved, if not slightly ashamed of himself, when they told him they were siblings.

Bickslow was watching Lucy as she greeted Asuka, ignoring whatever argument Freed and Evergreen were having, pleased to see that she looked genuinely happy to see the little girl. He frowned slightly as she tensed when Natsu threw his arm around her shoulders. Not being able to hear them, he was about to walk downstairs and talk to her when his name was called. Reluctantly he turned away from the trio and looked at Laxus.

The blond man motioned him over, his face serious.

"What's up, boss?" Bickslow stood in front of Laxus, wondering what could be wrong. _'Must be about Cosplayer.'_

Laxus glanced at his other two teammates, grateful they were still immersed in their fight, and lowered his voice. "I can't go, but she needs somebody. Now."

Bickslow blinked. He knew it was about Lucy, but he figured it was about telling anybody the events of the previous day. "How do you know that?"

"It's a dragon thing; now go." Sighing, Laxus went back into his office muttering obscenities about his grandfather. _'Can't even comfort my little sister because the fucking geezer forces his paperwork onto me.'_ Granted, Makarov didn't know anything, but that didn't mean Laxus wasn't going to be slightly angry.

Trusting Laxus' words, Bickslow made his way down the stairs, pausing to watch as Lucy set Asuka on her feet and sent her to her parents. Sure enough, he caught her trying to discreetly wipe her face. He felt anger, knowing that whatever happened was caused by an innocent little girl and Lucy's best friend. With some will, he pushed his anger away; they didn't know better.

He noticed her slide off the barstool and practically raced across the guild, grabbing her wrist to stop her. When she looked back at him, surprised, Bickslow cleared his throat.

"Laxus said you needed somebody," he blurted.

"Did he now?" Lucy raised an eyebrow before sighing. "He always knows when it happens."

Bickslow said nothing, just watching her face closely. When she sighed again, he tightened his grip on her wrist slightly and began pulling her out the back of the guild.

"Bickslow, where are we going?" She asked, but didn't resist.

"Where you feel safe," he responded. "Your spot in the park."

/ / /

Once they reached the clearing, Lucy sat cross-legged in the grass with Bickslow sprawled out next to her, his babies settled in the grass around them. Neither said anything, each waiting for the other to break the silence.

Bickslow, tired of the oppressing silence, finally broke it. "Do you wanna talk about it?"

Lucy sighed and played with a random totem, avoiding the man's gaze.

"It's just hard," she confessed after a minute. "It's hard knowing that I'll never be able to summon her again."

He nodded. Bickslow could understand the way she felt; he would feel the same way if something happened to one of his babies. "Is that what the kid and the flame retard wanted? For you to summon Aquarius?"

"Asuka did, but Natsu wanted me to summon Loke."

"Why didn't you summon him?" As far as he knew, she could still summon the other Zodiac spirits, but she didn't. Thinking back, he realized that he hadn't seen her call any other spirit besides the wobbly snowman in a long time. He looked at Lucy, now holding the little totem to her chest, and his eyebrows furrowed underneath his helmet. "Lucy?"

Lucy was surprised that he actually used her name, but kept her head down, hiding the tears she knew were coming. It wasn't until the totem she was holding nuzzled her cheek that she raised her head, but still didn't look at Bickslow. Looking up at the clouds, she whispered,

"Because I'm a failure as a Celestial Mage."

Bickslow watched as her keys began to glow on her hip; he figured the spirits knew what she was talking about and were trying to tell her she was wrong. He continued watching as she touched the keys with one hand, lips trembling and eyes watering. "Lucy, why are you calling yourself a failure?"

"Because I broke a promise! A Celestial Mage is never supposed to break a contract and that's exactly what I did!" She cried, burying her face in her hands. "I swore that I would never hurt my spirits in any way, but I did..."

He still didn't necessarily know how to comfort her -he'd never really comforted **anybody** \- so the only thing he could think of to do, was to comfort Lucy the way Laxus would. Before he lost courage, Bickslow removed his helmet and slipped his arms around the upset Lucy. What surprised him the most was the moment Lucy wrapped her arms around his waist, clutching the back of his shirt.

"I've lost my mom twice, what am I supposed to?" Her voice was muffled as she buried her face in his chest.

Not knowing what to say, Bickslow just rested his chin on her head and let her cry. He **couldn't** say anything; he'd never known what it was like to lose your mother, he didn't even remember his. All he could do was offer a shoulder to cry on, to be there whenever she needed somebody to listen and Laxus wasn't around, and that's what he did.

They stayed in that position for what felt like hours, the babies occasionally nuzzling against Lucy, cooing sadly. When her sobs finally faded into sniffled, Lucy pushed away from Bickslow, embarrassed that she clung to him like a koala. Bickslow, although saddened by the sudden loss of warmth in his arms, laughed seeing her so embarrassed.

"What's so funny?" Lucy's head shot up, glaring at the man. The glare faded, however, as she stared at his face. She'd seen his face when they fought during Fantasia, but there wasn't exactly time to really look at it. Now Lucy could clearly see his blue-and-black hair, his red eyes, and the interesting tattoo; all the things that were constantly covered by metal. _'He should take it off more often, I like his eyes...'_ Before she could stop herself, Lucy blurted, "You have really nice eyes, you know."

Bickslow froze for a few seconds before he grinned, tongue lolling out. "I didn't know you liked my face, Cosplayer."

"Whatever." She willed the warmth in her cheeks to fade as she stood up, dusting the grass off her clothes. When finished, she held a hand out. "Let's go back to the guild before people get more suspicious than they already are."

When he made no move to stand up -probably to annoy her- she snatched his helmet off the ground and started walking away, the babies following her. She called behind her, "We don't have all day, you know. Laxus wants to talk to us and he's going to be pissed if we stay out here longer."

"How could you possibly even know that?"

Lucy paused and glanced back, winking. "It's a dragon thing."

Bickslow stood up, not bothering dusting off the grass, and quickly caught up to the blonde girl. Unsuccessfully trying to get his helmet back, he grumbled, "You're not even a Dragon Slayer, what the hell."

She giggled at his confusion, moving his helmet away from him, but said nothing.

/ / /

Back at the guild, Bickslow pushed the doors open with his free hand. At some point during the walk back, Lucy slipped her hand into his and held it while she kept his helmet in her other arm. He didn't say anything about it lest she let go and he didn't want that; he liked holding her hand. But that didn't stop him from taking his hand from her the moment they stepped through the doors. It was enough that he didn't have his helmet and he really didn't want to deal with the rest of the guild if they saw him holding her hand. Giving it one last attempt, he tried to retrieve his helmet; even his babies were on Lucy's side and wouldn't help him.

"Nu-uh, I'm keeping this for a little while longer," she said, moving it out of his reach. When he dropped his arms, giving up, she grabbed his hand again and began dragging him to the second floor. "I can practically **feel** Laxus' irritation, so let's go."

Lucy pulled the grumbling Bickslow with her into Laxus' office, not even bothering to knock. "We're here, see. I'm nice and safe, no cuts or bruises, nothing. Nada, zilch."

Laxus nodded, but that didn't stop him from giving her a once-over. He chuckled, "You say that, but we all know how big of a klutz you can be."

Crossing her arms over her chest with a huff, Lucy glared at the two men snickering in front of her. "See this is why you're still single, Laxus. You'd probably insult the poor woman the minute you talk to her."

"Hey, your love life isn't all the hot right now either," he reminded her. He watched as she bristled, prepared to give a nasty retort, but quickly continued, "But seriously, are you okay?"

Lucy immediately deflated, her irritation with her brother gone in a flash. "I'm okay for now, thanks for sending Bickslow to help."

Bickslow grinned, happy that he was able to help her. His babies chanted happily, "Help Lucy!"

"Anything for the 'Light of Fairy Tail,'" Laxus responded, almost sarcastically. They both knew he would do anything for her and she would do the same for him. Laxus sighed, "You should probably go talk to your team. They've been bugging me all day about you and, to be honest, I was close to hurting them just so they would leave me alone."

"Well, thank you for not hurting them at least," Lucy sighed. She was most definitely **not** mentally ready to deal with her overbearing teammates, but Laxus was right. "I think Natsu's starting to catch on about the kin thing, he keeps complaining that I smell different or something."

Laxus and Bickslow snorted. Sure, Natsu was a Dragon Slayer, but he was still as dense as they come. Bickslow wasn't sure he would figure it out anytime soon. _'Hell, none of the Raijinshuu even noticed, so how could he?'_

"You two aren't giving him enough credit, he can be perceptive when he wants to be. Anyway," she continued, "I'll go down and talk to them. I make no promises about their reactions, though."

Lucy set Bickslow's helmet on Laxus' desk and walked around it to give him a hug. She waited until he returned the hug before moving away, ruffling his hair the way he always does to her. Snickering at the face he made, Lucy moved back around the desk and stopped in from of Bickslow. She could see the wariness in his eyes as he looked down at her and smiled at him. Standing up on her toes, she pulled his head down kissed his cheek and gave him a quick hug. Not giving him time to react, Lucy waved to her brother and slipped out of the room, closing the door behind her.

Once the door shut behind Lucy, Bickslow picked up his helmet and adjusted it back on his head.

"You coulda left it off," Laxus pointed out.

"Yeah, but she wouldn't give it back the entire time we were walking back," Bickslow explained. "I figured that was long enough without it. Anyway, what's up?"

"Suit yourself." Laxus shrugged. He let out a tired breath and scrubbed his hand over his face before continuing. "Lucy needs to go on a job, whether she wants to or not. She needs the money and if she stops going on jobs or using her spirits for help, she's not going to get any better."

Bickslow raised an eyebrow underneath his helmet. "So what's that got to do with me?"

" **Obviously** , dumbass, you're going with her."

"You're going to let your precious little sister go off alone with me?" Bickslow was dumbfounded; **nobody** would feel safe leaving their daughter or sister with him. He thought Laxus especially wouldn't want to leave Lucy alone with him for longer than a few hours, but here he was, telling Bickslow to go on a job with his little sister **alone**.

"I don't like the idea of her even going with her team," he scoffed. "Of course I would go with her if that stupid old man didn't continue dumping all his work on me and not letting me leave without finishing it. I'd rather you go with her than her stupid team that only knows how to be destructive **and** you know what's going on with her."

"In other words, I'm the lesser of two evils?" Bickslow sighed as Laxus shrugged, looking faintly apologetic. "But I suppose you would decimate anything that even left a scratch on her and I really don't want to see what you would do if she was hurt worse, so I'll be careful."

Laxus held back a growl, something that is hard to do when talking about a dragon's kin, and started to say something only to be cut off by Bickslow raising his hands, palms out.

"I know, 'it's a dragon thing,' I get it." He turned and began walking to the door.

"Bix," Laxus called, stopping the man just before he turned the knob. He waited until Bickslow turned his head and met his eyes before saying, "If you do **anything** that hurts her, consciously or not, I **will** know. And I sure as hell won't let it slide, no matter how long we've known each other."

Bickslow nodded and opened the door, following his babies out as they flew past him. _'Somebody is gonna have to explain this whole 'dragon kin' thing to me...'_ He was going to tell Lucy that they were taking a job, but, looking over the bannister to the first floor, he didn't see her or her team. Though he figured she had to still be somewhere in the hall since Plue was sitting on the bar with a lollipop in his mouth. Shrugging, he sat down at Freed's table and absently began fiddling with his babies. _'I'll just tell her when I see her again.'_

He didn't have to wait more than ten minutes; Laxus opened his door and looked straight at him, as if telling him that there was something he need to do. And the only thing Laxus would need Bickslow to do in the guild had to do with Lucy. Nodding to his friend, Bickslow got up and went downstairs to look for her. Mirajane pointed him to a closed door towards the back of the guild. When he reached the door, he was about to open it when he heard their voices coming from the other side. Curious, he decided to listen in for a minute before going in.

/ / /

Once Lucy left Laxus' office, she summoned Plue and decided it was time to face her team. As soon as she made it to the bottom of the stairs, Plue in her arms, she was practically ambushed by Team Natsu.

"Lucy, we would like to talk with you," Erza announced for all of them.

"Yeah, Luce, it's like you've been ignoring us lately!" Natsu whined.

Taking a deep breath, Lucy managed to smile at her family. "Sure guys, I've been meaning to talk to you about something anyway."

She walked passed them, heading for their usual table, when she felt a cold hand on her shoulder. Confused, she looked back and noticed that Gray and Natsu had uncharacteristically serious expressions. Gray steered her through the guild to an empty room in the back where they couldn't be overheard. Clutching Plue to her chest, she turned to her team with a forced smile.

"So, what's up?"

"'What's up'? **'What's up'?** " Gray echoed her sarcastically. "Lucy you haven't been with us as much as you used to be, hell, you're hardly ever at your apartment these days! What is going on?"

"Yes, and why haven't you gone on any jobs with us?" Erza added.

Lucy glanced at Natsu and her stomach dropped to her feet. He didn't say anything, just stood between Gray and Wendy with his nostrils flared, a suspicious look on his face. _'Well now he knows...'_ She looked at Wendy, who smiled shyly and nodded, letting Lucy know that she was aware of the kinship and accepted it. _'At least one team member is on my side on that...'_

"Well?" Gray and Erza prompted.

"I'm sorry guys, I've just been going through some really tough things and I didn't want to bother you," Lucy lied, hoping they would accept it. But, of course, being 'Lucky' Lucy Heartfilia failed her once again.

"You're lying, I can smell it," Natsu announced, looking slightly betrayed.

"Lucy you know that you can talk to us if there's something wrong," Erza said. "So why won't you talk to us?"

"I'm serious, I didn't want to bother you guys with it!"

Gray and Erza exchanged a look and turned their gaze back to her. Gray began speaking, "Fine, Lucy, we'll accept that for now, but answer this one thing."

"... Okay, what is it?" Lucy bit her lip warily, already knowing what was coming.

"Why did Bickslow drag you out of the guild and then come back holding your hand?"

Lucy flinched slightly; she didn't think they saw their hands when they returned.

"And why do you smell like Laxus?!" Natsu questioned.

"Um..." Lucy looked at each of her team mates faces. Erza and Gray looked expectant, waiting for their answer; Natsu looked slightly betrayed but mostly intense, and Wendy looked sad for her. Lucy didn't want pity, especially from Wendy, but she knew that the young girl was thinking about the consequences if she told the whole truth. _'This is really not how I wanted this to go...'_

"Look," she started, "Laxus and I became friends after the GMG and I've been hanging out with him, to get to know him better. Bickslow just sort of came with the package."

"That's bullshit," Natsu barked. "You're a nice person, Luce, you would forgive anybody, but you would never be close friends with Laxus or Bickslow."

Lucy was beginning to become annoyed that they wouldn't listen to her at all. Sending Plue back to the Spirit World, she rounded on her best friend and team mate. "I understand that you want to know what's going on, but don't you **dare** try to tell me who I would or would not be friends with. You are not my father!"

Gray, Erza, and Wendy watched as Lucy spoke to Natsu. They understood why she would be angry that they were practically telling her what to do, but neither Gray nor Erza understood why she was being so defensive about Laxus and Bickslow. It was odd to see Lucy so worked up over someone she barely knew, or so they thought.

As fate would have it, Bickslow chose that moment to open the door and step into the room. Everyone in the small room looked at him as he had removed his helmet; Team Natsu with slight fear and apprehension. The newcomer ignored the stares of her team and looked only at Lucy.

"Come on Cosplayer, Laxus says we're going on a job," he announced. That snapped her team into action. Gray, Erza, and Natsu stood in front of him menacingly while Wendy remained where she was.

"What makes you think Lucy will go with you?" Erza scowled, sword already re-quipped into her hand.

Still, Bickslow barely glanced at the three mages in front of him. Instead he remained silent, looking at Lucy for an answer, though he already knew what it was.

Of course, Lucy could feel Laxus' worry and unhappiness over not being able to take her himself, so she decided to give in instead of fight. Looking at her team mate's faces, who all turned to her, she replied blandly, "Sure, when are we leaving?"

Her team stared at her in disbelief as she calmly walked around them and stood in front of Bickslow. They may not want to cage her in like her father did, but that didn't mean they were going to let her go off with just anybody.

"So you'll do whatever Laxus tells you to do?!" Gray exclaimed, dumbfounded.

"Lucy, why?" Erza croaked.

Lucy hated acting this way towards her family, but there wasn't a good enough excuse to go with Bickslow without telling them everything. She dreaded what Natsu might say, having some idea as to what it would be about.

"Luce, I don't understand. You'll do whatever that stupid lightening rod tells you to do and you're willingly going on a mission with Bickslow?" Natsu's eyes flashed angrily as he looked between Bickslow's face and Lucy's. Both seemed perfectly calm, despite the fact that the Seith mage could literally control a person's soul. "What if he's just controlling you?!"

The room fell completely silent as each person processed what Natsu had just insinuated. Wendy looked at Natsu, disappointed that he couldn't recognize why Lucy smelled like Laxus or why Lucy was comfortable around Bickslow. Erza and Gray studied the two people in question, not wanting to believe it was true but also knowing that it was definitely possible.

Bickslow tensed, but said nothing; just stared down at the younger mages blankly. Lucy, however, was incensed. She had been angry at Natsu and her team before, but they had taken it to another level. She was angry when they were talking about Laxus, but as soon as Natsu let slip those last words, she saw red. Lucy marched up to her best friend and grabbed him by his scarf and pulled his face close to hers.

"First of all," she growled, "you cannot make decisions about my life for me, and I thought I made that perfectly clear. Second, don't you **ever** insult my brother in front of me again. You may be a Dragon Slayer but that doesn't mean I won't find a way to incapacitate you. And third, how **dare** you insinuate that Bickslow would use his eyes on me; I thought you were better than that. I guess I was wrong, wasn't I?"

Natsu coughed as her fist tightened around his scarf. He stumbled for an excuse, if only to get that murderous look out of her eye. "B-But he tried to kill you before!"

"Yeah? Well so did Gajeel, but I don't see you running around and accusing him of consciously hurting his friends!" Lucy dropped Natsu's scarf and stepped back to level a glare at her three partners. "I'm going on a job with Bickslow, not only because Laxus wants me to, but because **I** want to. Is that clear?"

She waited until all three nodded silently before offering Wendy an apologetic smile and grabbing Bickslow's hand, dragging him out of the room. _'Poor Wendy... Maybe she'll explain it to Natsu though.'_

Bickslow was dumbfounded at the way Lucy stood up to her team, for **him** no less. Nobody does that except for Laxus and sometimes Freed. But watching her get so angry over what Natsu accused him of was unbelievable. It still hadn't completely registered in his mind what just happened so he asked rather lamely, "What the hell just happened?"

Lucy ignored his question as she continued dragging him behind her, stopping at the request board. She searched from something that she would be able to do, or at the very least help with, that would also cover rent. _'Even though I barely stay in my apartment anyway...'_ After minutes of muttered "not enough pay" or "too hard for two people" she finally plucked a paper from the board and read it carefully. She nodded and practically shoved the paper in his face.

"Let's do this one!"

Bickslow took the paper and read it.

 **"Remove an unknown guild from the mines outside of town.**

 **Location: Clover Town**

 **Reward: 300,000 J**

 **Please meet with the foreman of the mine for more information."**

He shrugged and handed it back to her. "I don't see why not."

"Good, because I wasn't really asking for permission," she replied cheekily before running to the bar to have Mira log it in the books. When she came back, she folded the flyer into her pocket and looked up at him. "Okay, I'm going to my apartment to pack and then stay at Lax's house. So we'll meet there tomorrow at 8!"

With that she practically skipped out the doors, leaving a slightly confused Bickslow and a very nosey guild behind. One of his babies relayed what mission they were taking to Laxus, so Bickslow was free to leave or stay and risk the chance of Mira's interrogation. Deciding on the former, he waved to Freed and Evergreen and left, ignoring the questions and comments of the guild.

 _'This'll be interesting,'_ he thought as he walked home. _'At least her team won't be breathing down my neck... Hopefully.'_

 _/ / /_

"... Wendy?"

"Yes, Natsu-san?"

"Why did Luce call Laxus her brother?"

"... Natsu-san did your dragon not tell you about kinship?"

"No, he did. But what's that got to do with it?"

"Laxus sees Lucy-neesan as his kin, and vice versa. That's why she smelled like him."

"... Oh... Wendy?"

"What is it?"

"I messed up big time, didn't I?"

"Yes, Natsu-san, you did. Lucy-neesan will forgive you though, eventually."

"But Laxus probably won't."

"... Well, I'm always here if you need to be healed."

* * *

 **Ooooookay, wow this was literally the longest thing I have ever written. It was 6.8K without the A/N! I'm proud of that, tbh. Anyway, yeah nothing really exciting happened in this chapter BUT it sets the stage for the job they'll be doing in the next chapter(s)! If you've read Dibs, I'm taking the whole Elemental Key business and using it here bc I'm unoriginal and it was really all I could come up with (also I still don't really know where I'm going with this story tbh). And don't worry, there WILL be romantic tensions between Bickslow and Lucy starting in the next chapter. I would have done it sooner but since this is a multi-chapter thing (my first one too) I wanted to make it as realistic as possible. Plus I need time to prepare myself to write a lemon so why not give you guys fluff in the mean time? :D**

 **Oh yes, that dialogue between Natsu and Wendy at the very end is sort of like a bonus. I didn't just want to leave that whole issue open-ended since Natsu was supposed to find out and now he did, the ending is just to make that clear. And I love writing Wendy tbh, she's so adorable. x)**

 **Also wow omg I am so sorry if anybody is too OOC! I tried to keep them all as in character as I possibly could and I know Bickslow's babies just kinda disappear every now and then. I'm working on all of that, but please tell me if you see anything too OOC or wrong in general. Of course, please do so in a polite and constructive manner, because if you are rude about it I'll probably do it more just to spite you tbh.**

 **Now that finals are over, I'M FREE FOR THE SUMMER YAHOOOOOO! I do have a summer job for about a month, but it's really easy and if all goes well, I should get a lot more written over the course of the summer. There will be a break this weekend, half of next week, and about a week in August since I'm moving out of this apartment I shared with my brother and his fiancee and then moving into my own apartment in August (which means I gotta get a job to pay rent). Anyway, I look forward to writing this summer and I hope you look forward to reading it! ^^**

 **As always a huge thank you for reading! Please feel free to tell me what you think, what might need improvement, or even suggestions for future chapters! I love hearing from you guys, so go ahead and leave a review, send a PM, or even a Tumblr message to either blog! I don't bite, I swear.**

 **With love,**

 **Lau ( ˘ ³˘)**

 **Tschüss!**


	3. Chapter 3

**I apologize for the hella long wait, writer's block hit me hard af.**

 **Example of Gaia's attire:** **. (the two on the right)**

* * *

At 7:50 am, Bickslow knocked on the door of Laxus' house. It felt strange to knock, since he usually walked right in; but that was before he knew Lucy stayed here often. Now he had the feeling that if he barged in and found Lucy in a "less than proper" state, he'd be dead before he could even react. So he knocked and waited. He heard heavy thuds followed by muffled curses from the other side before the door opened.

"You're early," Laxus commented, rubbing his shin.

Bickslow shrugged. "You always made us meet up early, I figured Cosplayer would be like that too."

Laxus stopped rubbing his shin and stepped aside, motioning his friend inside. After closing the door, Laxus lead the way into the kitchen. "She is, but her team isn't."

As they entered the kitchen, Bickslow saw Lucy sitting at the bar, eating scrambled eggs and bacon. She waved and smiled around a mouthful of food as five little totems settled around her, chanting her name.

"Laxus is right," she said after swallowing. She patted each totem while she continued, "My team tends to meet up whenever they feel like it, so I gave up on expecting anybody to meet me earlier than the time I said."

Bickslow nodded, sitting down to talk with Laxus as they waited for Lucy to finish eating. Once she was done, hopping off her seat and putting the plate in the sink, he glanced at the clock; 8 am. He looked back at Lucy and was surprised to see that she was looking at him.

"I'm ready to go now," she announced, walking towards the suitcase she set near the foyer. Before she could pick it up, Virgo popped up in a flash of light and plucked the suitcase from the ground.

Bickslow said nothing as he followed Lucy to the door. He watched the spirit give her master a sad smile and disappear in another flash of light, taking the luggage with her. _'So she won't summon them, but doesn't stop them from coming on their own?'_

"Blondie," Laxus called, appearing behind Bickslow. "Did you pack your medicine?"

 _'What medicine?'_ Bickslow wondered to himself.

Lucy turned and rolled her eyes. "Yes, I have enough to last at least a week, but I don't plan on being gone that long."

"Alright, but did you |take| your medicine this morning?" Laxus eyed the smaller blonde. She had a habit of forgetting to take it and she probably wouldn't remember to take it at all if he didn't remind her.

"Yes, mother, I took my medicine," Lucy answered. "Can we go now?"

"Yeah yeah, you can go now." Laxus crossed his arms as Lucy tip-toed and kissed his cheek. He watched her open the door as he spoke to his friend. "Watch out for her; she has a habit of getting into trouble."

Having been silent during the sibling's conversation, Bickslow blinked and looked at Laxus; he was watching Lucy as she stood on the porch, the totems hovering around her. Bickslow clapped a hand on his friend's shoulder. "She's got five extra body guards aside from me, she'll be safe."

"That's what they all say," Laxus mumbled, watching the two head towards town, babies following.

Lucy stuffed her bag in the overhead bin and flopped onto the seat. 'A three hour train ride with Bickslow... I wonder how it's going to be.' She watched quietly as her partner did the same and sat in the seat across from her. As the train began moving, Lucy was glad that she didn't have a nauseous Dragon Slayer's head in her lap, but the atmosphere was different. She was used to Erza's armor clanking, Natsu groaning pitifully and Gray's constant jibes at him; now there was silence with the occasional totem squeaking. Feeling somehow incomplete, Lucy summoned Plue and settled him in her lap.

"My lap felt empty," Lucy explained when Bickslow looked at her. "I'm used to having Natsu's head on it."

"Well shit Cosplayer, if you need a head in your lap all you have to do is ask." With a cheeky grin, Bickslow removed his helmet and combed the three mowhawks with his hand.

Forcing her eyes away from his hair, Lucy turned her head to the side and huffed. "Unless you are sick, your head will never be in my lap."

"What if I said I was homesick?" Bickslow laughed as Lucy glared at him. Once calm, he crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back into the seat. "Alright, fine. I'll behave."

"I don't think you know the meaning of that word," Lucy muttered, playing with Plue's paws. One by one, the totems slowly drifted towards the little spirit, cheering as Plue tried to grab them. Grunting, Plue wiggled until Lucy set him on the seat where he could succeed in catching the little totems.

Bickslow watched his babies play with the little snowman, almost surprised that they even were. 'Must be because he's Lucy's.' He used the comfortable silence to finally ask, "How does this dragon sibling thing work?"

Lucy looked up from watching Plue and crossed her arms thoughtfully, relaxing into her seat. "I guess it's somewhat similar to mating."

"Mating," he echoed.

"In a way. When dragons mate, they bite their partner and essentially inject some of their magic into them," she explained. "The ritual for kinship is almost the same, minus the biting. Instead of biting, the individuals slice their left palm and touch hands." She held up her left hand, palm up, showing Bickslow the barely noticeable scar running across her palm like a lightning bolt.

"You just described something a cult would do, Cosplayer."

"You're right, but I wasn't finished yet." Setting her hand in her lap, she continued. "The reason it's similar to mating is because there is also a transfer of magic, from one kin to the other, though it's not nearly as much as mating. When a non-Dragon Slayer is mated with one, they develop the same senses as the Dragon Slayer, if only slightly weaker. Whereas, in kinship, there is only a very strong bond formed; we're able to sense what the other is feeling and when they are in danger."

 _'And right now, apparently…'_

"So that's why you could tell that Laxus was pissed yesterday," Bickslow observed. When she nodded affirmatively, he continued. "Is there a reason you cut the left hand? Do you cut your non-dominant hand or...?"

"Dominant hand has nothing to do with it. It's something about using the hand closest to the heart," she finished, rolling her eyes. Assuming what his next question would be, Lucy answered before he could open his mouth. "In place of the mating mark, you're left with a scar that heals to look like the symbol for whatever element the Dragon Slayer is; so other Dragon Slayers know whose kin they are. How Natsu never noticed it is beyond me."

"Because it's Natsu obviously," he scoffed. After a couple minutes of silence, Bickslow spoke up. "So is arousal included in the feelings spectrum you can sense from Laxus?"

Lucy choked on air while Bickslow waggled his tongue and laughed.

"No, it's not, you disgusting pervert of a mage," she fumed. "Who the hell wants to feel that from their sibling, that's just wrong?"

Bickslow stopped laughing and shrugged nonchalantly. "Just a thought; I don't know what goes down in this kinship thing you've got going on."

Grumbling, Lucy turned away from her partner watched Plue and the totems playing. Plue was rolling them off the seat and watching as they flew up before hitting the ground, sitting on his head until its turn came again. She took a lollipop from her pouch and handed it to the little spirit, giggling when he tried to share it with all the totems.

The totem with the angry face wander over to her, rubbing against her hand like a cat. Cradling it, she brought it closer and kissed it, causing the totem to hum contentedly. She looked towards Bickslow, curiously, and asked:

"How does your magic work that you can implant souls into objects?"

He looked at Lucy, with the totem now in her lap, intently for a few seconds before answering. "There's a process behind it, but it's basically just finding souls that |want| to stick around."

Lucy gazed at him expectantly. "And? What's the process?"

"Can't explain right now, it takes a while and we're about an hour and a half away from Clover," he responded. He watched, amused, when Lucy bristled to argue and was surprised when she took a deep breath instead.

"Fine." Grudgingly, Lucy quelled her curiosity and set the angry totem down with Plue and the others. She stared at the scenery passing by, not feeling like trying to read or write for her book. After gazing out the window for ten silent minutes, Lucy sighed and decided she might as well sleep. She folded her legs under her and tried to lean against the window, but her legs began to hurt within minutes. Frustrated, she tried multiple positions but none were comfortable enough to sleep in. Glancing at her partner, she had an idea.

Bickslow had closed his eyes, his chin resting on his chest, but he didn't sleep. He could hear Lucy shuffling around and huffing in irritation and had to hold in his amusement. When became quiet he had assumed that she finally found a decent position, but he was confused when she stood. He figured she was going to the bathroom and didn't move. But when she suddenly plopped down next to him and turned sideways, throwing her legs across his lap, he opened his eyes and stared at her.

"Cosplayer, what the hell are you doing?" He watched dumbfounded as she kicked off her boots and wiggled until she was comfortable.

"What does it look like, Bright Eyes?" She retorted once she was satisfied with her position. "I'm taking a nap."

"Yeah, I see that, but why are your legs on me?"

"Because I wanted to stretch out a little, but didn't want to move Plue and the babies. And I sure as hell wasn't going to lie on the floor," she said blatantly. "Laxus lets me do it all the time, so I didn't see a problem with doing it to you."

"Laxus must spoil you," he grumbled. "Also, "Bright Eyes"? Really?"

"Mmhm." She hummed in response, already half-asleep with her arms folded over her middle.

Bickslow tried shaking her shoulder but gave up when she didn't even move; it was clear that she wasn't going to wake up for a while. Propping his chin on one hand and resting his other arm across her knees, Bickslow stared out of the window aimlessly; he didn't really mind Lucy using him as furniture.

/ / /

When Laxus entered the guild, he was confronted by two of Lucy's teammates; Gray and Erza. They stood in front of him like a barricade, arms crossed over their chests and murder in their eyes. Laxus raised an eyebrow. "Can I help you?"

"We would like to talk to you about your "relationship" with Lucy," Erza announced. Next to her, Gray nodded affirmatively.

"Oh?" He looked around, already bored with the conversation. "The Flame Bastard doesn't have anything to say?"

Gray snorted and shook his head angrily. "That idiot isn't here; he went on a job with Lisanna and Happy because he said that he wanted to live."

"Natsu did something smart for once, huh," Laxus muttered. The guild members present looked at him, dumbfounded that he would use the words "Natsu" and "smart" in the same sentence.

Ignoring them, Erza continued. "He told us not to get involved and that Lucy is fine. Of course, we do not know exactly what is going on, so here we are."

"What the hell makes you think Blondie's not fine?" Laxus growled, his "inner dragon" rousing itself to protect its kin. Even though they didn't know, Laxus was offended (his inner dragon more so) that Gray and Erza would assume there was something wrong with Lucy. "Don't you trust Blondie's judgment?"

Erza blinked, wondering why Laxus was so defensive, but shook it off. "Of course we trust Lucy! We just wonder..."

"Wonder what?"

"How she could be totally fine being so close to someone that tried to kill her," Gray finished matter-of-factly. Erza nodded glumly.

Laxus stood with his fists clenched, small bolts of lightning sparking around them, as he glowered at the two before him. He barely heard the exasperated sigh and appalled gasps from the guild mates. Faintly, he could feel Lucy try to calm him down through their bond.

Gray and Erza stepped back in shock. They knew he would get mad for bringing up Fantasia, but he'd never gotten this mad. Worriedly they looked to Makarov, wondering what to do. Relief washed over them when the master jumped from the bar and began making his way towards them, calling Laxus' name. It didn't last very long; before Makarov even made it halfway a metal pole appeared in front of him, stopping him from proceeding.

Everyone, except Laxus, followed the pole to where it connected with Gajeel's arm. Instead of offering any sort of explanation, he shook his head and refused to let anybody near the three mages. They all watched, horrified, as Laxus took a small step towards Gray and Erza, forcing them back another step. But before Laxus could take another, a small blur of green and blue lunged itself at him.

Laxus felt something soft hit his side, causing him to stop advancing and look down at whatever it was. His hands stopped sparking and he blinked when he saw that Wendy had uncharacteristically jumped in front of him with a determined look in her eyes.

"Wendy?" Gray and Erza yelped simultaneously while Laxus stared.

Erza placed an armored hand on the girl's shoulder and tried to turn her around. "Wendy! Why did you do that? You could have gotten injured!"

"You shouldn't be here, Wendy," Gray added.

"Neither should you!" Wendy faced the older mages nervously, but with an unwavering gleam in her eyes. The guild gaped at their youngest Dragon Slayer, stunned.

"What?"

"You should have listened to Natsu-san," she murmured. Erza removed her hand from the girls shoulder.

"But Lucy," she started.

"Is perfectly fine because Laxus-san would never hurt his kin!" Wendy interrupted, stopping her foot childishly.

Laxus snapped out of his daze. "You knew?"

"So did Gajeel," she answered. From her peripherals she saw Laxus look to Gajeel, who shrugged and said nothing. "We weren't going to say anything until you decided to tell us."

"Just because Lucy sees him as her brother doesn't mean he won't hurt her somehow," Gray argued.

Laxus growled again, but Wendy touched his scarred hand softly. She smiled up at him before turning back to Gray. "Gray-san, the only way he could hurt Lucy-nee is if he gets injured or dies."

"Dies?" Erza echoed.

Wendy lifted Laxus' hand and showed his scar, identical to Lucy's. "When Lucy-nee agreed to form a kinship with Laxus-san, she became the most important thing to him aside from his mate. If something happens to her, Laxus-san will do everything in his power to help her and vice versa."

Gray and Erza stared at Wendy, not fully processing her explanation. It was silent, every person staring at the group, until Makarov clapped his hands, gathering the guild's attention. He hopped back onto the bar and cleared his throat before addressing the guild.

"I think that's enough drama for one day, brats," he announced. "Let's all go back to what we were doing and forget what just happened, hm?"

Unwillingly, the guild members listened to Makarov's orders and returned to their drinks and/or fights. Gray and Erza gave Laxus one last look, this time less hostile, before slowly returning to their table.

Relieved, Wendy turned and beamed up at him. Suddenly, she threw her arms around him, hugging him the way she did Lucy. "Thank you for being there for Lucy-nee, I'm happy for both of you."

Not sure what to do, Laxus patted her head awkwardly. "Thanks, squirt."

Laxus sat down at an empty table, headphones over his ears, contemplating the situation that just ended. It wasn't that he had a problem with the guild knowing his kinship with Lucy, he just wanted to wait for Lucy to say it. They had discussed when they would tell others, but never came up with a good time to do it. He always figured that that particular announcement wouldn't go over well with the others, proved by Gray and Erza's reactions today, so he opted to let Lucy decide the right time.

But now, because her team insisted upon learning the truth, the whole guild knew and Lucy wasn't the one to tell them. He sighed, ignoring all the stares -especially his grandfather's- and wondered if he should tell Lucy what happened or wait for her to return. Though it didn't really matter; she was going to be angry either way. All he knew for certain was that the guild was going to have a very interesting day when she got back.

/ / /

Stepping off the train, Lucy stretched her arms above her head and turned to her partner. One by one the little totems filed out behind their master until he reached Lucy and circled around them excitedly.

Lucy giggled briefly at the totems' antics before shifting her attention to the task at hand. She pulled the job flyer from her pocket and made sure she knew who to talk to about the job. She folded the flyer back into her pocket and looked up at her partner. "We're supposed to talk to the foreman of the mine and not the mayor, so let's go find him."

"How are we gonna find him without wasting time?" Bickslow wondered. He was ready for the job to be over; not that he didn't enjoy being alone with Lucy, but he wasn't sure if he could be alone with her for too long.

Pursing her lips Lucy turned and studied the streets of Clover town, scanning the various signs that dotted the cobblestone streets.

"Aha!" She grinned triumphantly and pointed to a sign. "That's how we're going to find him without wasting time!"

Bickslow followed her line of sight and read a large sign with a white arrow pointing east, the words "Elemental Mines" printed above it.

Lucy grabbed his wrist and began walking down the street, pulling Bickslow behind her and the babies resting on their shoulders. "If he's the foreman of the mine, he most likely lives near the entrance to it."

"Kind of an unoriginal name for a mine though," Bickslow commented, pulling his arm from her grip. "Aren't all mines there from an element?"

"Maybe there's a story behind it." Lucy shrugged.

As they approached the mines, Bickslow noticed a small house off to the side about 100 feet from the mine entrance. Tapping Lucy on the shoulder, he nodded his head towards the house.

"Oh! I told you we would find it easily," Lucy chirped. She ignored Bickslow's snort and trotted up to the door, knocking politely.

A man in his forties, dressed in dirt covered work clothes, opened the door and looked down at the young woman standing on his doorstep. "You are the mage here about the job, I assume?" His voice was deep, yet slightly gravelly.

Lucy nodded and held up her right hand, showing her guild mark. "I'm Lucy and this is my partner Bickslow," she introduced, gesturing her other hand towards Bickslow who nodded his greeting. "We're from Fairy Tail."

The man paled slightly, well aware of the destruction Fairy Tail was known to cause inadvertently. "You two aren't going to destroy the mine are you? It's one of the main sources of income in this town."

"No no, we won't do anything like that," Lucy assured him, smiling soothingly. "We're just going to help you get rid of the thieves."

"Good." The man sighed in relief and motioned the pair inside. "My name is Francis Dolarhyde, I've been the foreman of those mines for over twenty years."

Lucy shuffled into the house with Bickslow close behind. "And how long have you been having problems with thieves?"

Francis sighed and faced the mages. "They aren't exactly thieves, I've never found any stolen goods anywhere."

"If there's nothing being stolen, what do you need our help with?" Lucy asked.

"They're digging around in the mines, messing up all the work that my guys and I have done for the last two months."

"They're digging," Bickslow repeated haughtily. "Isn't that what you do in a mine?" He grunted slightly as Lucy rammed her elbow into his ribs.

"Well yeah," the foreman admitted, "But they're not taking any of the element we get from there."

"What element is that?" Lucy inquired curiously.

"Iron ore."

Lucy whistled. "Iron ore is worth a decent amount of money, I wonder why they're not taking it."

"It's like they're searching for something else," the man said. "Every time I go back, there's a new chuck of rock blown away but nothing there except rock and ore."

"Any idea what they'd be looking for?" Bickslow asked.

Francis shook his head dismally. "No clue. But whoever they are, they wear this armband."

Lucy and Bickslow studied the scrap of cloth Francis held up. It was dark red with a white crest, the alchemical symbol for Sulphur, that looked as if it was wrapped around the upper arm of the person wearing it. Lucy's eyes widened slightly, recognizing the symbol.

"I think they're a mage guild," the foreman offered. "I've never seen any mining equipment in the caves."

"You're right," Lucy mumbled. Bickslow and Francis looked at the blonde.

"How do you know that, Cosplayer?"

Lucy looked at Bickslow for a minute before turning her gaze back to the foreman. "It's a mage guild that specializes in all kinds elemental magic; Hell's Brimstone."

Francis nodded and set the armband on his kitchen table. "That explains why they're able to destroy the rock without tools."

"Yeah…" Lucy took a deep breath to steady herself. "Don't worry, Mr. Dolarhyde, we'll get them out of the mine for you in no time."

"Thank you," he breathed. "When you finish, you'll have to go see the mayor. I'm not allowed to pay you, it seems."

Lucy nodded and motioned Bickslow to follow her out of the house.

When they were outside and walking towards the mines, Lucy asked, "Where are the babies?"

"I sent them ahead of us to the mine to see what we're dealing with," Bickslow answered, shrugging. "It seems like there's only 10 people in their right now; nothing we can't handle."

"Hm." Lucy looked ahead at the mine entrance growing closer. She knew that they would be able to take down those 10 members without much of a problem; they were most likely the grunts of the guild anyway. So it wasn't the fighting that had her hesitant; it was the knowledge of what this guild's ultimate purpose was. The amount of times she had taken down guilds that thirsted for world domination with her team, she should be used to it by now. But there was something about this guild that didn't sit well with her in her gut, she just couldn't figure out what that something was.

/ / /

Creeping their way through the entrance of the mine, Bickslow used his babies to help keep an eye on the members of the guild. Surprisingly, all that were present huddled in the same cavern together; they didn't even post a look out. _'They must really think nobody can win against them,'_ Bickslow thought, rolling his eyes behind his helmet.

"They're all in the same room," Bickslow whispered to Lucy. "We'll just have to hit them all at once, you good with that?"

Lucy nodded, eyes hardening with determination. She unclasped her whip from her belt and let it uncoil, ready to be used. The keys on her hip warmed; her spirits, Loke and Virgo specifically, demanding that she summon one of them. As much as she would like to use her beloved spirits, she couldn't; Lucy still felt unworthy of their help and devotion.

Bickslow eyed Lucy as she readied her whip and brushed her keys lightly. Briefly he wondered if she would finally summon one of her spirits willingly instead of them popping out on their own. Just as he was about to give her a signal to move in a voice rang out around them, bouncing off the curved walls of the cavern.

"What's this," it said. "The old foreman sent two little mages to deal with us? He must be underestimating us."

The two Fairy Tail mages watched as the silhouette of a man formed from the ground in front of them.

"You must have some experience if my entrance didn't affect you," he remarked, slightly put out.

"You must be the look out," Bickslow observed wearily.

"I am," the man said, bowing his head slightly. "And you are?"

Bickslow slowly removed his helmet and dropped it on the ground next to him. He felt surge of primal satisfaction when the man's eyes widened; but he didn't move. Bickslow began taking slow steps towards the man until he stood a foot away from him. He leaned even closer and said in a low voice, "Just a wandering guild mage looking for lost souls."

Bickslow's eyes glowed green and the man found himself unable to move a muscle. He stood helpless as Bickslow's fist plowed into his cheek, sending him so flying into the rock wall. Satisfied, Bickslow looked at his partner and nodded; it was time to storm the main cavern.

Lucy took deep breath and squared her shoulders before gesturing to Bickslow that she was ready. Whip gripped tightly in her fist she followed her partner into the big cavern, immediately engaging with the closest guild member. The first member that ran towards her, a fire mage, was met with a hard leather whip wrapped around her throat. Lucy threw her arm to the side, throwing the woman into the man Bickslow had taken down; a couple of the babies made sure they didn't get up again.

After Bickslow had defeated his third member, he spared a glance towards Lucy and was surprised to see that she was holding her own extremely well for not using her spirits. She had a few cuts and bruises along her arms and legs, but was otherwise fine. He watched the way she used her whip as an extension of her arm to bring an enemy closer and kick him across the face with full force. A female water mage attempted to attack Lucy for behind but the ground beneath her feet caved in and she fell. The ground returned to its original state and Virgo popped out next to Lucy, touching her shoulder briefly before moving to take down another enemy.

It only took about an hour to clear the mine of the dark guild members, but Bickslow and Lucy were unable to find out what they were searching for; all of the members were either incapacitated or refused to reveal their guild's mission. After ten minutes of interrogating the guild, they gave up and Bickslow dragged the members out of the mine with the help of his babies, leaving Lucy and Virgo alone.

"Princess, you must call us to help you fight," the spirit admonished her master. Virgo began cleaning the cuts, silently berating herself for not arriving sooner.

"I'm sorry Virgo," Lucy sighed. She truly did feel bad for not asking her spirits for help. As Virgo finished bandaging the cuts on her arms, Lucy felt a shiver crawl up her spine; a presence looming behind her.

"You are the one, Lucy Heartfilia…" An ethereal voice drifted through her mind. Lucy swiveled her head around trying to locate the source of the voice, but there would as nothing. She shivered again as a strange feeling of desperation flooded over her.

"Princess?"

Lucy blinked as the voice disappeared completely, the feeling gone with it. She looked up to see Virgo staring down at her worriedly. Belatedly, Lucy realized that she had sat down when she heard the voice, or fell down. She quickly reassured her spirit she was fine. "Sorry Virgo, I must have spaced out. I'm fine."

Virgo remained silent for a minute, studying her master, before nodding. In a rare display of emotion, Virgo leaned down a wrapped her arms around Lucy's shoulders, giving her a quick hug. "Be careful, Princess. It would devastate us if something happened to you, especially big brother," she whispered.

"I will, Virgo," Lucy promised. She grinned slightly as she imagine Loke tearing his way through his gate to avenge his fallen master. His key grew warm and she brushed it softly. "Tell Loke I'll call him soon."

"Very well, Princess." Virgo stood and bowed low. Just as she was about to open her gate a return to the Spirit World, Virgo looked back at her master. "This cave is very important, Princess."

Lucy watched as Virgo disappeared in a flash of light, wondering why Virgo said the cave was important; she could see nothing of immense value aside from the iron ore. Her mind wandered back to the voice and Lucy thought maybe that was what her spirit was referring to.

Before she could dwell any further on the subject, Bickslow returned to the cavern. She turned her head and looked up at him. "Ready?"

"Yeah, the authorities came and got 'em," he informed her. He reached down and grabbed her hand, pulling her up beside him. "What are you doing on the ground? You were still standing when I left."

"I got tired," she lied. She didn't want Bickslow to worry unnecessarily; or worse tell Laxus he thought something was wrong. 'Laxus would feel it anyway,' she reminded herself.

"If you say so Cosplayer." Bickslow shrugged and began walking out of the mine. "Let's go get the reward so we can go home tomorrow."

"Aye, sir!" Lucy threw her hand in the air, mimicking Happy's catchphrase. She shrugged when Bickslow threw her a weird look.

/ / /

As the pair left the mine, neither noticed the shadow lurking in a dark corner, watching them. The Hell's Brimstone member had witnessed the fight between his guild and the two Fairy Tail mages, but there was only one thing that mattered to him right now; Lucy Heartfilia.

Once the mages had begun walking back to the town, the young man dug in his pocket for his small lacrima. He waited a few minutes for somebody to answer, his guild master's face appearing when it was.

"Master Eckhart," he said, bowing his head respectfully.

"Graham," Eckhart grumbled, "You have news, I presume?"

"Yes Master." Graham went on to describe the two Fairy Tail mages and the fight between them and his comrades. As he finished his recollections, he informed Eckhart about Lucy. "She is a Celestial mage, Master; probably the most powerful. She had 10 of the golden Zodiac keys, as well as a large amount of dormant power."

"Hm," the master hummed thoughtfully. "She might be useful in helping us find the key. Keep an eye on her; if she finds the key, return to the guild and we will come up with a plan."

"As you wish, Master," Graham vowed, bowing his head once again. The lacrima clicked off and Graham stuffed it back into his pocket, his mind focused on the blonde Celestial mage.

"Lucy Heartfilia," he mused. "If this works out the way Master is hoping, she will lead us to all 12 of the Titan keys."

/ / /

By the time Bickslow and Lucy left the mayor's office, it was late evening.

"That was more exhausting than the fight," Lucy huffed, kicking a stone across the sidewalk. The mayor had vehemently insisted that the pair stay for dinner, as an extra show of gratitude for restoring the town's main source of income. Which would have fine had he not decided to go into the entire history of the town and mines.

"I thought you were used to things like that, Princess," Bickslow teased. He grinned cheekily when Lucy threw him a glare.

"I am," she admitted. "But not when I've just fought a good chunk of a guild, am covered in cuts and bruises, and just plain tired... And don't call me Princess; the spirits is enough, thank you."

"Whatever you say Princess." Bickslow laughed as Lucy tried to trip him, his arm resting atop her head. He led them to a hotel and rented two rooms for the night. He handed Lucy the key to hers and he pushed her through the door of it. "Get some rest, we're leaving early tomorrow."

"Sir yes sir," Lucy mumbled, locking the door behind him.

She turned and surveyed the small room, silently thanking Virgo for dropping off the bag currently sitting on the bed. Walking to the bed, Lucy dug through her bag and retrieved her pajamas and underwear. Holding up the clothes she promised to have somebody punish Virgo as a reward; instead of the scraps of fabric Virgo usually packed for her, this time she had given her more modest sleepwear, a large flannel button up and short shorts.

Gathering the clothes and her toiletry bag Lucy moved into the bathroom, looking forward to a hot shower to soothe her tired muscles. And soothe it did; she was half asleep when she finished her shower and somehow wormed her way into the clothes. By the time her head hit the pillow, she was fast asleep.

Lucy tossed and turned in her sleep, the same voice from the cave constantly at the forefront of her mind.

"It is time," it said. "Lucy Heartfilia, you are the one that will hold the keys."

"What are you talking about?!" In her dream, Lucy tried to talk to the voice; to find out what it wanted. Instead of answering, images of destruction flashed through her mind. The town was decimated, guild halls destroyed, bodies littering the ground at every turn; total chaos.

"You must find us, Lucy Heartfilia!"

Lucy's eyes snapped open, darting around the room desperately. Her gaze landed on the small clock next to the bed and she sighed; it was 2 o'clock in the morning. With shaking hands she lifted the covers and slipped out of bed, moving towards the mirror nailed to the wall beside the door; she was pale. The images projected in her dream seemed terrifyingly real; more terrifying than the destruction she witnessed during the battle with Tartarus. She had seen Laxus lying face down in a pool of his own blood, his face mutilated beyond recognition; her team dismembered and strewn about the destroyed guild hall.

She felt nauseous just remembering what it looked like; a sight should have died without seeing. In the mirror she watched as her face became tinged with green, but still abnormally pale. She thought she might break down into a puddle of absolute fear and nausea when she felt a familiar warm presence behind her. A large furry hand laid softly on her shoulder and she turned to look into the eyes of her spirit.

"Capricorn," she breathed, fighting the urge to cry. Unable to help herself, Lucy threw her arms around the goat spirit. "Why did I see those things? What's going on?"

Capricorn patted her head reassuringly. "I cannot tell you exactly why you were shown those images, Lucy-sama. I can only say that you must go back to the mine in order to find the answer."

Lucy sniffed and reluctantly released her spirit. Her heart told her not to go back to that mine, to sleep and go home that morning; her logical side told her that it would never stop unless she found the answer. It had only taken one experience with the voice in the cave to know that she would never be able to rest easy until she went.

"I'll go," she mumbled. Capricorn nodded and patted her head one last time before disappearing back into his world.

Taking a deep breath, Lucy lifted her chin and marched out of her hotel room, stopping in front of Bickslow's. Through the door she could hear muffled thumps that she assumed were from the babies flying around, knocking into things. She raised her hand to knock, but the door swung open just before she hit and a naked chest replaced the wood. Slowly she slid her eyes up to her partner's face; he was looking at her with one eyebrow raised.

"Something you need, Princess?" Bickslow folded his arms over his chest and waited.

Lucy turned her eyes away from his face and gazed down the empty hallway.

"I'm going back to the mine," she whispered.

"You're **what**?" Bickslow stared at her incredulously. "It's the middle of the night, why are you going back?"

She sighed and looked back to his face, meeting his eyes. "There's just something I need to do there."

"… Fine," he surrendered. He stepped into the hall, locked the door to his room (the babies stayed inside), and stuffed the key into the pocket of his pants. "Let's go."

Lucy gave him a grateful smile and led the way. They made it halfway to the mine before Bickslow spoke again.

"Where are your shoes, Princess?"

Lucy looked down at her bare feet, now riddled with tiny cuts. She shrugged. "I forgot them."

Bickslow clicked his tongue and put a hand on her shoulder, stopping her. When she looked at him confused, he leaned down and swept her legs from under her, catching her shoulders in the crook of his other arm. He lifted her as if she weighed nothing and continued down the path to the mines.

"Why did you do that?" Lucy stared at him, baffled.

"Your feet are already torn up and it'll just get worse when we get on the rock," he explained. "Just enjoy the ride, Princess."

"Oh. Thank you."

They lapsed into silence, not speaking again until they had reached the mine entrance where Lucy asked to be put down. She began walking as soon as her feet touched the ground, weaving through the caves and tunnels as if she had lived in them. Bickslow followed silently, wondering how she knew where to go. Finally she reached a large cavern, bigger than the one they fought in the hours ago.

Neither noticed the unnaturally dark shadow watching their every move.

Lucy had followed the voice through the mines into this cavern; it looked the same as all the others, but the voice told her this was it. Curiously she ran her hand along the rock wall as she circled the room, searching for the slightest hint that something was off. She found it about halfway through her search. The atmosphere was different in that spot, more urgent.

Bickslow watched quietly as Lucy felt along the wall. He didn't know what she was looking for, but he knew she found it when she turned and smiled at him triumphantly. He had taken a step towards her when a large crack appeared in the rock beneath her hand. Realizing what was going to happen Bickslow sprinted towards Lucy, throwing his arms around her waist and used his momentum to throw them both to the ground. They rolled across the cave, Lucy tucked safely into his arms, as the wall shattered throwing chunks of rock throughout the cave.

Coughing through the dust, Lucy opened her eyes to find herself thoroughly protected by Bickslow's body. Looking around at the aftermath, she wondered what had caused it to happen. Her eyes fell on the section of the wall that shattered, a dull glow catching her attention. Bickslow rolled off of her and brought them both to their feet; Lucy immediately dashed to the wall to inspect the glow. Carefully she touched the object creating the glow and was filled with shock; it was a key.

"I can't believe it," she breathed unbelievably. "Bix, look!"

Bickslow stood behind her and looked at the key. "It's a key?"

Lucy nodded excitedly. Slowly she pried the key from the rock and cradled it in her palm. It was the same size as all her other keys but instead of metal, this key looked as if it was carved from granite. A pair of hands cradling the Earth was etched into the handle, the rest jagged. "It's a Titan key…"

She looked up at her partner. "IT'S A TITAN KEY!"

With an ecstatic shout, Lucy jumped and wrapped her arms around Bickslow's neck tightly. She laughed joyously; Lucy Heartfilia was the first Celestial mage known to have found one of the legendary Titan keys.

Bickslow's mind chose that specific moment to realize her lack of a bra as she squeezed her arms around him. He patted her back lightly but reluctantly pried her arms from around his neck and set her on her feet. She was gazing at the key in her hand lovingly. Suddenly her head shot up, eyes alight with excitement.

"I want to summon it!" Eagerly she moved to the center of the cave and held the key in front of her at arm's length. She closed her eyes and channeled her magic into the key, feeling a tremendous drop in her magical power.

A blinding light flashed from the end of the key, filling the entire cavern with pale green light. When the light faded, a woman stood in its place. She was slender, tall, with olive toned skin. She was dressed in a light green chiton and a dark green himation that matched her eyes; there were small white flowers adorning her earthy brown hair, and resting on the crown of her head was a circlet made of the same granite as the key.

"Lucy Heartfilia, I have waited many lifetimes for you," she said, bowing her head slightly. Her voice was soft yet demanded attention; it was as soothing as the serene smile on her face. "My name is Gaia and I am mother to the Earth and the first of the Titan keys."

Bickslow, still stunned by the intense light, watched Lucy incline her head respectfully before responding to the Titan goddess.

"It is an honor to meet you," she said honestly.

"I apologize for the grotesque images I was forced to show you, it seemed to be the only way to bring you here," the Titan apologized.

"What images?" "What were they?"

Gaia watched as Lucy and the man beside her blinked at each other. She cleared her throat to catch their attention.

"I'm afraid I do not have the time to explain the details behind the images or how imperative it is that you collect the Titan keys," she sighed. "Your body is at its limit."

Lucy realized that her legs were trembling, sweat glistened on her forehead. She nodded to the Titan goddess and offered a small apologetic smile.

"Do not apologize, Lucy Heartfilia. Summoning a Titan for the first time drains all of your power, but only this one time. You will have a much easier time summoning me in the future," she assured the blonde. "We will meet again soon and I will tell you everything."

Lucy nodded feebly and watched as Gaia turned to stone and shattered, the pieces dissolving into the air. When the Titan goddess was gone, Lucy slumped to the ground, laughing breathily. _'I am the first human to summon a Titan key.'_ The thought echoed through her mind as the world turned black.

/ / /

As Lucy awakened, she became aware of the pressure on her chest. Slowly peeling her eyes open, wincing at the sunlight peeking through the curtains, she found the source of the pressure; two of the babies had settled onto her chest, almost purring. She glanced around and found that the other three totems were situated around her head, the grumpy faced one practically buried in her hair. Bringing her arm from under the covers, Lucy touched the totems on her chest so they would move. When they did, she sat up in the bed and all five totems began chanting her name happily.

Yawning, she caught a whiff of an odd smell and heard faint scratching noises coming from a space across the room. Turning her head she found Bickslow hunched over a desk, completely absorbed in whatever he was doing.

"Bix?" Her voice sounded gruff from lack of use; she cleared her throat and tried again. "I thought we were leaving early today?" A glance at the bedside table showed it was three in the afternoon.

Pausing in his work, Bickslow turned his head and looked at her. "You've been asleep for two days, Princess."

Lucy blinked. "What?"

"Yup." He nodded, turning back to his work.

The last thing Lucy remembered was summoning Gaia with the Titan key she found in the wall of the mines. _'I must have passed out after she left,'_ Lucy thought. _'That took a hell of a lot of power, now that I think about it.'_

"You should change," Bickslow said, interrupting her thoughts. "We can still leave today, if you want to."

Lucy looked down and found herself wearing a very comfortable, very **masculine** shirt, and boy shorts. Blood rushed into her cheeks and ears, making her blush bright red. She stared at Bickslow's back, the unsaid question practically permeating the silence.

"That kinky maid spirit dressed you," he assured her. He blew a puff of air on the object in his hands before continuing. "How she got one of my shirts without me knowing is a mystery to me. Oh, and she somehow got you to take your medicine."

Chagrined, Lucy took back her promise of punishment for Virgo, though she wasn't sure why she was surprised something like this happened; it was definitely a Virgo thing to do. Sighing, Lucy crawled out of the bed and found her bag resting on the floor next to it; she dug through until she found clean clothes to change into. On her way to the bathroom, she remembered the strange scent she had smelled when she first woke up.

"What are you doing?" She tip-toed to stand behind Bickslow and peered over his shoulder, trying to get a glimpse.

Bickslow threw her a look over his shoulder and slowly lifted the object to her line of sight. "Carving."

"What is it?" She peered at the object with squinted eyes, trying to figure out its shape.

"A bracelet…" He paused. "… For you."

Lucy gasped as she picked it up from his hand and held it closer to her face. It was redwood with carved beads strung together; small charms swung daintily between them. The charms were the main focus of the bracelet; the symbol for each and every one of her keys, including Gaia, was carved from a small piece of wood, too detailed for a normal person to do. Tears gathered in her eyes as she slipped the bracelet over her left hand, adjusting it on her wrist.

"Thank you, Bix," she whispered. "It's beautiful."

"I had nothing to do while you played Sleeping Beauty so-"

She cut him off by throwing her arms around his neck and moving in to kiss his cheek. Except she didn't kiss his cheek; Bickslow had turned his head just as her lips were going to touch and instead of landing on his cheek, they landed on his mouth. Both froze for one long minute, eyes wide.

Finally Lucy moved her head back, breaking the accidental kiss, and stared. They both stared at the other's face in stunned silence until a little totem popped up beside them.

"Kiss!" It shouted. "Lucy kiss!"

Snapped out of their stupor, they looked at the little smiling totem. Lucy noticed that she was no longer standing and looked down, realizing that she had practically fallen into Bickslow's lap.

"S-sorry!" With a yelp, she scrambled off of him and all but sprinted towards the bathroom, hastily snatching her discarded clothes from the floor.

Dumbfounded, Bickslow watched Lucy race into the bathroom and slam the door. He didn't say anything, just stared into space, as his babies did somersaults around the room, cooing happily.

In his mind, Bickslow was eternally grateful that Laxus couldn't feel arousal and wasn't within a mile of him; he would be dead twenty times over even though he didn't make a move. He groaned and put his head in his hands, listening to the muffled voices of Lucy talking hysterically with a spirit. _'This is going to be one long ass train ride.'_

/ / /

The train home had not been as awkward as Bickslow thought; it was relatively silent but neither avoided the other. By the time they arrived in Magnolia everything seemed to be the same as it was before, if not only a tad more serious; one could tell that something had happened.

On the walk to the guild, Bickslow saw Lucy becoming increasingly nervous.

"What are you so nervous about, Cosplayer?"

Lucy glanced at him briefly before returning her eyes to the road in front of her. She wrung her hands together. "We didn't exactly leave on good terms with my team. I don't know what they're going to do now that I'm back…"

"I'm sure Laxus took care of them after we left," Bickslow laughed. "We both know they probably tried to force him to talk about it."

She sighed. "That's what worries me even more… While we were on the train to Clover, I felt Laxus get very angry. What if they said the same thing about him as they did you?"

"What, about us trying to kill you?" Lucy nodded. Bickslow patted her head. "Chill out, Princess. If other Dragon Slayers can tell whose kin, I doubt they would have let Laxus fly off the handle."

"I guess you're right…" Still, Lucy worried about what would happen when they arrived at the guild; she didn't want to cause some kind of feud between her team and her brother.

The remainder of the trip to the guild was walked in silence, each mage thinking of different things. Lucy was still stewing about the impending confrontation while Bickslow was preparing himself for Laxus' anger. When they reached the doors of the hall, Lucy took a deep breath and pushed them open.

"Lucy!" She heard her name called before her "I'm home!" even died on her lips. She found Erza and Gray standing before her looking slightly guilty.

"Hey guys," Lucy greeted, giving them a warm hug. She watched, amused, as their faces melted into relief.

"We would like to apologize for out behavior the day before you left," Erza said, bowing deeply.

Gray grunted his agreement. "Just about got our asses kicked the next day; should have listened to Natsu for once."

Lucy knew what he meant; Natsu now knew about the kinship and decided to stick with his instincts. She looked around curiously. "Where is Natsu?"

"He went on a mission with Lisanna and Happy," Erza informed her. "They should be back tomorrow or the next day."

"How was your job?" Gray asked.

A deep voice interrupted the conversation. "It took longer then she said it would."

"There were some complications, dear brother," Lucy huffed. She put her hands on her hips and faced the older blond towering over her. He had his arms crossed over his chest, glaring at Bickslow.

"Complications, my ass," he grumbled. "You dropped off the grid for two days. Blue Balls over here is lucky he brought you back uninjured."

Bickslow avoided his friend's eyes; there was no way he could face Laxus normally considering what happened just before they left Clover. He was damn lucky Cobra wasn't around to hear his thoughts and tell Laxus just how much he liked the way Lucy looked in his shirt.

"Stop that." Lucy poked her brother's chest until he looked at her. "I'll explain what happened later, at home. So quit glaring at your best friend and plotting different ways to castrate him, you overgrown lightbulb."

Bickslow paled beneath his helmet; he looked at Laxus in horror. He told himself that Laxus would never do such a thing to him, but the look on his friend's face said differently.

The rest of the guild watched Laxus with wide eyes, wondering what he would do about being called a lightbulb. To their surprise he merely grinned at Lucy cheekily and ruffled her hair. Makarov was especially astounded. Laxus had mellowed out immensely since he was banished from the guild, but he still had a very short fuse and calling him such an asinine nickname would normally have set it off; but not with Lucy said it. If they had any doubts about their relationship, they were cleared up instantly.

"By the way, Blondie," Laxus cleared his throat. "The guild knows."

Lucy froze, suddenly aware that they might have found out about Aquarius. Quickly she told herself that couldn't be possible, they would be treating her like broken glass if they did; it also ruled out them knowing about her well-hidden depression. That meant there could only be one thing they knew; the kinship. She raised her eyebrow at her brother. "And how do they know about that?"

Laxus glanced towards Erza and Gray. "Red and Blue here decided to take it up with me after you left that morning. One thing led to another and Wendy and Gajeel had to step in, so now everybody knows."

Lucy looked around the guild noticing that, while still surprised, nobody seemed to care overly much about this new development. She made eye contact with Wendy and Gajeel, the former sitting oddly close to the latter, and nodded gratefully. Wendy smiled back happily and Gajeel grunted in acknowledgment before turning back to his plate of metal.

Suddenly guild doors slammed open and a small blob of light blue flew in, followed closely by two other people. In a blur of blue fur, Happy collided with Lucy's chest.

"Lushy!" Happy cried ecstatically, burying his head in her chest.

"Hi Happy," Lucy laughed, rubbing the cat's ears. She looked up as Natsu threw an arm around her shoulders. "Erza said you weren't coming back until tomorrow or the day after. Did something happen?"

"Yeah, we kicked ass, Luigi!" Natsu pumped his fist in the air. Lisanna giggled.

"Nothing was destroyed for once," Lisanna said, coming to stand in front of Lucy. "He said that he "wanted to be back early so I beg Luce for forgiveness" or something like that."

Lucy blinked and turned to Natsu, surprised. He blushed and scratched the back of his head, moving to stand beside Lisanna. She didn't miss the way Lisanna's eyes stared up at Natsu more adoringly than usual. She grinned. "Don't worry Natsu, I'm not mad anymore. You didn't know and you were just looking out for me."

Natsu grinned and gave her a thumbs up.

"And besides," she continued, "it looks like you got more than just money as a reward on that job."

She silently pointed out the way the two were standing closer than normal to each other, their arms brushing occasionally. She could also see the very tip of a red tattoo-like mark peeking from under Lisanna's collar.

Lisanna blushed profusely while Natsu grinned even wider and wrapped his arm around her shoulders, pulling her closer to his side.

"Hey, Lushy, what's this?" Happy, still clinging to Lucy, pulled the chain around her neck from under her shirt.

Three people froze instantly. Lucy gaped down at the broken key Happy had just pulled out into the open, her face turned an unhealthy pale. Laxus and Bickslow snapped their gazes to Lucy, wondering what she would do.

"Um…" Lucy looked up at her brother and Bickslow, silently begging for help. Before either man could react, a small voice shouted from the bar.

"That's the mermaid lady's key!" Asuka shouted, jumping down from her stool and dashing towards Lucy; she would recognize her favorite spirit's key anywhere.

The guild members looked from Asuka to Lucy, confused.

"Lucy…" Makarov approached the petrified woman slowly. He touched her hand softly. "Why is that key broken, child?"

/ / /

Deep in a secluded forest, Graham reached the entrance of his hidden guild hall. Placing his hand on an unassuming tree trunk, he mumbled a few words causing a flash of light to appear and reveal a large weathered stone castle that housed Hell's Brimstone.

Once inside he immediately sought out his master, eager to inform him of all that he saw in the mines.

"Master Eckhart," he greeted, bowing low as he entered the master's office.

"Graham," Eckhart grumbled. "You have news?"

"Yes, Master." Graham launched into a detail account of his experience in the mines with Lucy Heartfilia and that man with her.

"So she has found the key," Eckhart mused once his underling had finished.

"She now holds Gaia, the first of the twelve Titan keys."

"And you said that she is to find the remaining eleven?" Graham nodded. Eckhart stroked his chin thoughtfully. "Watch her as she searches out the keys; steal them from her before she can use them to thwart our plans. Remove any other person that you consider a threat, but do not kill the girl."

"Yes, Master." Bowing low once more, Graham back out of the room and made his way to the his own office. Inside he pulled materials from his desk and packed them into a duffle bag. Leaving the bag on his desk, he left the room and walked down to the basement library. There he pulled all the books on Celestial magic he could find and returned to his office to study them. If he was to hunt a celestial fairy, he was going to be prepared.

* * *

 **FIN. What did you think? I'm actually very proud of this chapter bc it's so long (close to 10k). The longest I have EVER written.**

 **Next on the TGTW agenda:**

 **1\. From Steps to Leaps chapter 3 [Completed and awaiting final revisions]**

 **2\. The Lost Loser [Ayahina oneshot, awaiting final revisions]**

 **3\. Admiration from Afar [Tousaki oneshot, tentative title; awaiting final revisions]**

 **4\. Sasaki Ken [Tousaki oneshot, in progress]**

 **Tbh I really wanted to participate in Colu week bc I FLIPPING LOVE COLU, but I'm not good at one word prompts. It takes me weeks to come up with an idea that's even PLAUSIBLE so I shall remain in the background. Drooling over the entries written by some of my FAVORITE authors, so you should definitely skedaddle on over to the Colu pages and partake in the amazingness.**

 **As always, a huge thank you for reading and putting up with the long af wait for this (I'm so sorry). Feel free to tell me what you think (like it? love it? hate it? OOC?) and/or general comments/opinions. I'm always available through Tumblr (both main and TGTW blogs) and always, ALWAYS available through PM. If you so feel inclined to do so, I will love you for all the days to come.**

 **With love,**

 **Lau ( ˘ ³˘)**

 **Tschüss!**


	4. Chapter 4

**I humbly present chapter 4 of To Heal the Heart.**

 **Standard disclaimer: I own nothing except for the OCs and 100000% fictitious plot.**

* * *

 _"Lucy…" Makarov approached the petrified woman slowly. He touched her hand softly. "Why is that key broken, child?"_

/ / /

"M-Master, uh…" Lucy floundered for a response frantically. She could feel the stares of the other guild members boring into her back. Her eyes fell on Laxus and Bickslow, both staring at her as well, with desperation permeating the atmosphere around her.

"Lucy," Makarov called. "Let us go upstairs."

Numbly Lucy dropped Happy (he flew over to Natsu) and followed the master upstairs, grabbing both Laxus and Bickslow's hands as she passed them. From the corner of her eye she could see Erza and Gray open their mouths, presumably to ask why they couldn't go with her, but Natsu grabbed Gray's elbow and shook his head.

Inside the office, Makarov sat behind his desk and regarded the three mages before him. Lucy was pale and trembling uncontrollably with Laxus and Bickslow each holding one of her hands, trying to keep her as calm as possible. Makarov had a suspicion that both men knew something that he didn't, namely the reason behind Lucy's broken key. He cleared his throat.

"My child," he began. He waited for Lucy to look at him before he continued. "What happened to your key?"

Laxus held up his hand. "First thing's first, old man: put up a sound barrier. I can practically smell the guild's curiosity and Blondie doesn't need that right now."

Makarov nodded and erected the sound barrier, gesturing for Lucy to speak.

Lucy took a deep breath. "It happened during the battle with Tartarus…"

"That was months ago, why haven't you said anything?" Makarov wondered.

"I don't want to be pitied by the guild," Lucy explained with a strained smile.

Makarov nodded. "And how did it happen?"

Lucy closed her eyes briefly, the memory of that day as fresh as if it had happened yesterday. She felt Laxus' hand on her shoulder and Bickslow's hand around her own; she squeezed. "I summoned the Spirit King."

The master's eyes widened. He didn't know a lot about celestial magic, but he knew what it took to summon the Spirit King; Master Bob had explained it one day. He noticed the downcast look on Lucy's face and softened. "I am so sorry, my child."

She shook her head. "It was the only thing to do, we would have lost otherwise."

"But you sacrificed your beloved spirit for the sake of the guild," Makarov said. "That in itself is something that most people would not be able to do."

Lucy merely nodded her head, not exactly accepting the high praise the master was giving her. She felt her keys warm on her hip.

Makarov watched as Lucy touched her keys softly and felt the surge of magical power coming from her ring. He studied the keys closer and noticed one that she didn't have before. "Lucy, what is that key?"

Looking up, Lucy noticed that the master was pointing towards the granite key hanging among the gold and silver. Carefully she unhooked the key and laid it on the desk in front of her. "It's the first Titan key, Gaia."

"Titan key…?" Makarov gaped at the young woman in front of him. The Titan keys were a mere legend; he never suspected that they actually existed. And for one of his children to **find** one of these legendary keys, Makarov was in awe. "Where did you find that?"

Lucy glanced at Bickslow before answering. "I found it on the job Bickslow and I took. It was in the mines that were having trouble with a dark guild."

"What happened on this job?"

"That night, after we took out the mages, we went back to the mine because I had a feeling that there was something important that I needed to find," Lucy explained. "This key was hidden in the walls of the mine. It's what the dark guild was searching for."

"I see." Makarov nodded. "And do you know why you felt the need to find that key?"

Lucy shook her head. "I don't know why, but Gaia told me that I would need to collect the other eleven keys before the dark guild."

"Please summon her, child," Makarov requested.

/ / /

After Master and Lucy, along with Bickslow and Laxus, disappeared into the master's office the guild was quiet as they stared at the closed door.

Finally Evergreen broke the silence. "What was that?"

Everybody turned to look at Evergreen with equally puzzled faces. None of them knew what just happened and none of the three remaining Dragon Slayers could hear what was being said in the office; they had put up a sound barrier.

Erza had an idea. "Let us call Yukino, she may know why Lucy's key would be broken."

The guild agreed. Mira brought out the communications lacrima and called the Sabertooth guild. It was quiet for a moment before Sting Eucliffe's face appeared on the screen.

"What can I do for ya fairies?" he chirped.

Erza stepped up. "We need to speak with Yukino, it's urgent."

Sting scratched his head but shrugged and called the white-haired celestial mage over.

Her face replaced Sting's on the screen. "What is it, Erza-sama?"

"We have a question concerning the Zodiac keys," Erza stated. Yukino's head tilted to the side in question. "What would cause a golden key to break?"

Yukino froze, whatever color in her already pale skin drained. She moved away from the rest of her guild into another room. She spoke quietly. "D-Did something happen to Lucy-sama's keys?"

"Just one," Natsu popped up. "Aquarius is broken, Luce wears it around her neck now."

"I see…" Yukino fell silent for a moment. "The only way a Zodiac key would break, besides being destroyed by the Spirit King himself, is if it was used in a substitution summoning."

"Substitution summoning?" Erza echoed.

Yukino nodded solemnly. "In order to summon the Spirit King, a Zodiac key must be sacrificed as a substitute."

There was silence on both ends of the lacrima; the Fairy Tail members processing the information.

"You're kidding right?" Natsu laughed nervously.

"She's not." A bright flash of light filled the room for a split second and then dissipated, leaving Loke in its wake.

"Loke?" Gray looked at his friend. "What do you mean she's not kidding?"

Loke sighed and faced his former guild mates. "During the battle with Tartarus when you were close to being defeated, Lucy used the last of her magic to summon the King and destroy Plutogrim. She was also given one time access to use Aquarius' powers to defeat Jackal."

"There's something else, isn't there, Loke-sama?" Yukino asked softly. "Lucy-sama has found a Titan key, hasn't she?"

Loke nodded. He knew that Yukino would feel the shift of celestial magic once Lucy summoned the Titan for the first time. Loke faced Yukino seriously. "Is it possible for you to come see Lucy? She won't let us do anything to help her and she needs another Celestial mage to talk to."

Yukino nodded immediately. "Please tell Lucy-sama I will be there tomorrow."

The lacrima screen turned black as Yukino hung up. Fairy Tail was eerily quiet.

"Luce…" Natsu breathed.

"… Gave up a spirit to save us…" Gray held his head in his hands. Juvia rubbed his back soothingly.

"Why didn't she tell us?" Erza muttered, disheartened.

Suddenly Makarov's voice boomed from the second floor. "Because she didn't want you brats to feel sorry for her."

"Master?" The guild members looked up at their master, the three mages with him disappeared from his side.

/ / /

"Please summon her, child," Makarov requested.

Lucy picked up the key and guided her flow of magic into it. They ley lit up bright green as it had the first time and the titan goddess appeared standing beside the desk.

Makarov blinked and looked at the Titan.

"Makarov Dreyar," Gaia bowed her head in greeting. "I am aware of the reason for my summons. Please allow me to explain the situation Lucy Heartfilia finds herself within currently."

Gaia held her hand palm up and a small sphere of images appeared; the same images she had shown Lucy in the nightmare.

"As you are aware, there are twelve Titan keys in total," she began. "There is a dark guild, as you call them, searching for the keys. They are called Hell's Brimstone; they have been searching for our keys for centuries now."

Tearing his eyes away from the grotesque scenes in the sphere, Makarov looked at the Titan. "What do they want with the keys?"

Gaia closed her hand, the images disappearing. "There is a type of magic that allows the mage full control of the Titans; it blocks our sense of self and we turn to becoming mindless beasts. If they were to obtain the twelve Titan keys and use that magic on us, it would result in an all-out war between the Titans."

"Why would they want to do that?" The four mages stared wide-eyed at the goddess.

"It has been said that he who controls the Titans will gain limitless power," she said. "Power 100 times that of the Spirit King."

"But…" Lucy stuttered. "The Spirit King is the most powerful of all spirits!"

"Yes, but he is not the most powerful being," Gaia explained patiently. "Each of the twelve Titans is more powerful than the King and when that power is used against the world, it is unstoppable.

"And while only one celestial mage can find the Titan keys, they keys may be used by any other celestial mage," she finished.

"I thought you couldn't do that with spirits though?" Laxus cut in. "Don't you all make contracts with the master?"

Lucy answered for Gaia. "It doesn't work that way with the Titans… The Titans aren't spirits so there is no contract binding them to one master for an indefinite period of time."

Bickslow looked between the Titan and Lucy. "So that means Princess here has to essentially fight off an entire guild to keep these keys from being affected by that magic?"

Gaia nodded.

"Is there a limited time for her to find the keys?" Makarov asked.

Gaia shook her head. "Because Lucy Heartfilia is the one to find the keys, Hell's Brimstone will not be able to do anything until she has found them all."

There was an audible sigh of relief from the four mages present.

"However," Gaia continued, "there has been a shift in celestial power since I was found. Because of that shift the other Titans will begin calling to Lucy Heartfilia and she will not be able to ignore it."

Lucy sighed, already exhausted by the turn of events. "Why am I the one to find the Titans?"

"I do not know," Gaia said apologetically. "I have told you all that I know; the other Titans will know more."

The tension in the room was palpable as the Titan goddess turned to stone and shattered. Lucy hung her head in despair; she felt Laxus rubbing the tension in her neck.

Makarov was silent, contemplating what they should do. "Lucy I think it would be best for you to move in with Laxus for the time being. There very well may be a member of this Hell's Brimstone watching you closely; you should try to be with somebody at all times."

"Yes sir." Lucy nodded.

"Laxus-"

"Already on it, old man." Laxus leaned down to give Lucy a hug and kiss the top of her head before disappearing in a yellow flash of lightning.

Lucy immediately felt the loss of warmth in her brother's absence. She felt Bickslow squeeze her hand reassuringly and tried to give him a decent smile. It didn't work.

Bickslow stood up, pulling Lucy with him, and called for his babies. "I'll take her to Laxus' house. We'll talk again tomorrow, Master." The babies assembled into a platform just outside the window; Bickslow opened the glass and jumped out onto the platform.

"Be careful," Makarov called as the babies flew away. Sighing heavily, Makarov jumped from his desk and walked out onto the second floor landing. He caught the end of the conversation between the guild, Yukino, and Loke.

"Why didn't she tell us?" He heard Erza ask.

Makarov jumped onto the railing and looked down at his children.

"Because she didn't want you brats to feel sorry for her," he boomed.

"Master?"

Makarov sighed. "Lucy made the sacrifice to save our family, she does not need pity from the very people she saved. And you all have no right to be upset that she didn't tell you."

"But Master, that is something we should have known once the battle ended," Erza protested.

"Lucy is under no obligation to tell you of the things she does." With a huff Makarov jumped from the railing and shuffled back into his office, closing the door behind him. He didn't hear a sound downstairs for at least half an hour.

/ / /

Graham shattered the second floor window to Lucy's apartment, glancing around the street again to make sure he wasn't seen. Satisfied with the deserted street, he scaled the wall and slipped through the window, careful to avoid the broken shards of glass. Once inside he dusted the glass from his shoes and looked around the small apartment. He almost gagged; it was pink everywhere.

"The keys," he mumbled. Graham tore through the apartment, beginning with her desk, searching for Lucy's keyring.

An hour later he turned up nothing besides a few hidden photos of an older version of her and various articles of clothing that belonged to a male.

"Of course she wouldn't just leave her keys in her apartment," Graham laughed at himself. "She's too smart to do that."

As he took one last look around the pink room, his eyes landed again on a photo of a blonde young lady holding a small child. _'Her mother?'_ Graham lifted the photo for a closer look, something Eckhart told him drifting through his memory.

 _"There was another time when we were close to obtaining the Titan keys," Eckhart had said. "But the woman refused to work with us and ignored the call of the Titans._

 _"Who was the woman, Master?"_

 _Eckhart sneered. "Layla Heartfilia."_

 _"Lucy Heartfilia's mother?" Eckhart nodded. Graham knew that both of Lucy's parents were now dead. "What happened to her, Master?"_

 _She was disposed of before she could reveal our plans to anybody," Eckhart said nonchalantly. "I heard that her husband later blamed their daughter for her death._

Graham decided to leave a message for the unsuspecting Celestial mage. He left the apartment momentarily, snatching a stray cat from a random alley way and jumped back through the window. Snapping the mangy animal's neck, he sliced open its stomach and dipped his first two fingers inside, coating the tips with the warm blood. He quickly scrawled a message onto the wall and pinned the picture next to it with a knife stolen from the kitchen. Pleased with his handiwork, Graham dropped down from the window a final time and melted into the shadows, eagerly awaiting the return of the blonde mage.

/ / /

Lucy held onto Bickslow's hand as she tried to keep her balance on the babies as they zoomed through the town. Suddenly the platform disappeared from beneath her feet and she dropped to the street below. She looked up and saw her apartment building. "I thought you were taking me to Laxus' house?"

Bickslow pulled her towards the door. "I am. Figured you'd want more clothes or something from your place first, though."

"Thanks." Lucy let him pull her up the stairs to her front door and unlocked it. Swinging the door open wide, her keys fell from her hand as she saw the state of her room. The window above the bed (the one Natsu always used as a door) was broken, glass shards covered the bed. Her desk chair was thrown across the room, the things on her desk strewn across the floor. The pictures on the walls were also broken, the glass of the frame stabbing the photo inside; her clothes her destroyed. She noticed an odd pile of red and orange and slowly approached it.

She almost screamed. There on her floor were the remains of the alley cat; its neck snapped cleanly and its innards spilling from the sliced belly. She felt Bickslow move up behind her and together they followed the trail of blood from the cat up to the wall. Had Bickslow not caught her, Lucy would have crumpled to the floor. On the wall, painted with the cat's blood, were the words:

 _ **You will meet the same fate as your mother if you ignore the Titan's call.**_

The picture of Lucy and her mother was pinned to the wall with a knife, Layla's face scratched from the photo.

Bickslow lifted Lucy in his arms and turned away from the wall, striding towards the door. Without bothering to close it, Bickslow left the apartment building with his babies hovering worriedly around them. He knew he would have to tell Master what happened, but first he was going to take Lucy somewhere safe.

Lucy lifted her head from Bickslow's shoulder when she shifted his hold on her to unlock a door. She blinked at the unfamiliar room. "Where are we?"

Bickslow gently set her on the couch. "My place. Laxus won't be back tonight and he'd kill me if I left you alone after what we just saw."

Nodding, Lucy watched distractedly as the babies flew into another room, their constant chirps falling silent. She stared at nothing for what felt like hours before she realized that there were arms around her. Tensing, she raised a fist to hit whoever was holding her but stopped just in time when she recognized her lion spirit.

"Loke…" Lucy mumbled into his jacket, feeling numb. Loke rubbed her back.

"It's going to be alright, Princess," he promised. "Yukino will be here tomorrow to see you and Laxus will be back before you can even miss him."

She sniffed lightly.

"And your spirits will always stand with you," he continued. "No matter how unworthy you think you are to have us, we will never leave you."

Lucy nodded. "Where is Bickslow?"

"He left to buy food. I told him that I would stay with you until he got back."

"… Loke?"

Loke stopped rubbing her back and looked at her. "Yes, Princess?"

"I want to go to the beach."

He looked out the window and saw that it was already dark outside. Eventually he agreed to take her on the condition that she never leave his sight; it wasn't safe for her to be out at night.

At the beach Lucy sat in the sand, staring at the waves washing up on the shore. Occasionally she would skip a rock or shell and just watch as it skipped along the surface of the water before sinking.

"Princess?" Loke interrupted the silence. She turned her head. "I need to go back to the Spirit World for a minute, the King is calling. Do you want me to take you back first?"

Lucy shook her head. "I'll be fine by myself for a little while; there's nobody around. Tell Stascheface I said hi."

Loke paused, debating whether or not to send Virgo, but the Spirit King's insistence was growing. Quickly Loke disappeared in a flash of golden light, leaving Lucy alone on the shore.

After Loke left, Lucy closed her eyes and listened to the sound of waves crashing on the rocks. For as long as she could remember Lucy always felt more at peace near the sea. That feeling grew even more after she lost Aquarius; it was like Aquarius surrounded her.

"What should I do Aquarius, Mom?" Lucy whispered to the sea, her face buried in her knees.

"The great Lucy Heartfilia is asking a body of water for advice?" A voice sounded from the shadows.

Lucy jumped and whipped around, reach for her keys. She panicked when she felt her bare hip. The voice chuckled and a young man materialized front he shadows; he was wearing the same arm band as the one left in the mine.

"Who are you?" Lucy demanded, trying to sound firm.

The voice laughed again. "Don't worry about who I am, we will meet again soon."

"What do you want?"

Silence.

"I would like to warn you, Lucy Heartfilia," the man said, his voice deathly serious. "If you do not continue to search for the Titan keys, I will personally see to it that your "family" is taken care of."

"Wha…" Lucy stepped back as the man before her moved closer. She felt cold fingers grip her chin painfully, forcing her to look into his eyes. They were a gunmetal gray with no emotion showing.

"If you refuse to cooperate, I am not beyond brutal methods of coercion." He lowered his voice. "Seeing your teammates ripped to pieces, your beloved guild blown to pieces, not even ashes left."

Lucy whimpered. "S-Stop…"

"Maybe you would like to watch your brother die slowly as I painstakingly remove his non-vital organs one by one and feed them to him," he continued darkly. "Or even that man you love. How would it feel to watch the love of your life driven insane to the point of clawing his own face off? To watch him mutter nonsensical things as his flesh is slowly devoured by man-eating reptiles?"

Tears streamed down her face as Lucy shook her head frantically.

" _ **How,**_ Lucy Heartfilia?" The man cackled evilly. "Do you not have anything say?"

"STOP IT!" Lucy screamed, wrenching her chin from the man's cold grip. She fell to her knees in the sand, her face buried in her hands. "J-Just stop… Please…"

"Lucy?"

Lucy flinched at the sound of her name coming from a familiar mouth. Slowly she dropped her hands from her face and lifted her head, tears still cascading from her eyes. She met the shocked and confused eyes of her brother's best friend.

"B-Bickslow…" Lucy whimpered again, reaching towards him with one trembling hand.

/ / /

Bickslow ran back to his house, the bag of groceries forgotten as he dropped it on the doorstep to open the front door. He burst into the room and looked around, noticing that the house was silent and Lucy was nowhere to be found. He tore through his house looking for her, but she was gone. Something shiny caught his eye and Bickslow found Lucy's keys sitting on the coffee table, glinting in the moonlight.

He started to panic. Lucy would never leave her keys; they were almost always attached to her belt.

"Found Lucy!" A little totem with a sad face popped up beside him. "Lucy at beach!"

"We take to Lucy!" Another totem chirped, already flying out the door.

Bickslow raced after the babies, ignoring the strange looks the townspeople were giving him. He had to find Lucy. When the beach finally came in sight Bickslow ran as fast as he could, following the agonizing cries of Lucy's soul. He heard her scream.

"J-Just stop… Please…" He heard her crying.

Finally he reached the stretch of beach she was on just in time to see the figure of a man morph into a shadow and disappear. Momentarily stunned, Bickslow stared at the spot the man had been standing in; right in front of Lucy. He slowly approached the sobbing woman.

"Lucy?" he called. He watched as she lifted her head and looked at him. It was all he could do not to destroy something; aside from the multitude of tears, there were dark red marks from where the man held her chin.

"B-Bickslow…" She whimpered, reaching towards him.

Bickslow reached Lucy and kneeled in front of her, touching her hand. "Lucy, why are you out here in the middle of the night?"

Lucy shook her head mutely. She all but collapsed against him, her hands fisting in his shirt as she cried.

There was a flash of light and Loke appeared beside the couple.

"I thought you were going to stay with her?" Bickslow growled.

Loke looked down at his master. Reaching out, he softly ran his hand through her golden hair. "I was. There was a call from the Spirit King - that turned out to be a ruse - and I couldn't open my gate again. None of us could or else Virgo would have been in my place. That man must have done something to prevent her type of magic being used..."

Sighing, Loke kissed Lucy's head and stood up. "Take her back to your house and make her take a bath, Virgo will be there to help her. She'll feel better if she bathes."

With that the lion spirit disappeared, leaving Bickslow to take care of Lucy. Bickslow gently gathered the weeping blonde in his arms and stood up, starting towards his home. Again he ignored the looks of the townspeople, his focus on getting Lucy to his house and safety.

When Bickslow kicked the door of his house open, Lucy's pink-haired maid spirit appeared beside him and took her master in her arms. Virgo carried her master into the bathroom (Bickslow didn't want to know how she already knew where it was) and undressed her, carefully placing her in the waiting bath.

Lucy remained silent as her spirit washed her, everything the man said burned into her memory. The things he described that would happen to Laxus and Bickslow became extremely detailed images, she could even imagine their agonizing screams. Lucy let herself be lifted from the warm bathwater, patted dry, and dressed; all the while her grotesque imaginings playing across her mind like a movie.

It wasn't until Virgo had settled her on the couch in Bickslow's living room, dressed in the same t-shirt and boy shorts as she wore in the hotel that Lucy realized she was no longer sitting on the beach. She had finally stopped crying and was now staring into the fireplace as if it held all the answers in the universe. There was no reaction when Bickslow slowly slid onto the seat next to her.

"Cosplayer?" She didn't move. He tried again, "Lucy?"

She turned her empty gaze from the fireplace to his face, but still said nothing.

Bickslow hated the look on her face; as if there everything in the world that could bring happiness to her life was destroyed in front of her eyes. Her face was pale, her bloodshot eyes standing out against her skin. He touched her hand softly. "What happened?"

Lucy looked from his face to his hand resting on top of hers. She took a deep breath and tried to blink away the images of her brother and Bickslow dying. "A man… From Hell's Brimstone found me…"

Her voice cracked; she cleared her throat and continued. "He told me that he would… kill my family if I stopped searching for the Titan keys; that he would personally kill you and Laxus…" Her breath hitched as the images of Laxus' and Bickslow's death flashed in her mind. "H-He said he w-would…"

Bickslow let go of her hand and wrapped his arms around her, burying his face in her hair. He mumbled, "You don't have to keep talking, I get it."

He felt Lucy nod against his chest and her tears soak through his shirt.

Trying to calm her down Bickslow ran his hand up and down her back; inside he was livid. He wanted to find that man and rip him into pieces that would never fit together again; he wanted to inflict pain one hundred times that of all the Titans combined could. But Lucy needed him more.

Bickslow knew that he should have contacted Makarov while she was in the bath, but he couldn't. He didn't want Lucy to be interrogated by their guild master as soon as she was safe; he didn't think she would have been able to handle it. Sighing Bickslow leaned his head on hers, grateful that she was safe with him.

Her tears eventually ceased and her breathing evened out; she had fallen asleep. Bickslow carefully lifted her in a princess hold and carried her into his bedroom, laying her on his bed. When he tried to leave, intent on sleeping in the living room, her hands tightened their hold on his shirt. He tried gently prying them off, but she wouldn't let go; the more he tried to leave, the more restless she became in her sleep.

Her eyes scrunched together as she mumbled in her sleep, grip tightening even more on Bickslow's shirt. Bickslow weighed his options; he could get in the bed with her and risk being electrocuted to death by his best friend or he could remove his shirt and let Lucy sleep alone through nightmares. Looking down at the sleeping blonde, Bickslow already knew what he was going to do; his desire to be with Lucy overshadowed his own life.

Resigned to the possibility of dying Bickslow quickly untangled Lucy's fingers from his shirt and slipped it over his head (he never slept with a shirt on). Lucy's hand reached out again, searching for something and she muttered irritably when her seeking hand touched only empty space. Bickslow grabbed her hand, relieved that she settled down, and slid into the bed beside her.

Immediately Lucy rolled until she was pressed up against him, her arms curled around his bare waist, cuddling into his side. Bickslow froze as he felt her wiggling against him, her chest pressed snugly against his side. Grateful when she finally stopped moving, he waited another minute before reaching down and pulling the covers over them.

With nowhere else to put his arms Bickslow slowly wrapped them around Lucy's smaller frame; she nuzzled her face into his chest and sighed. A feeling of absolute peace washed over him, blocking out the cries of lost souls.

 _'This will be one hell of a good night's sleep.'_ He yawned and buried his nose in her hair, letting sleep take over.

/ / /

As soon as he left the guild Laxus was teleporting to Clover Town and heading straight for the foreman's house. When the man finally answered the door (Laxus was close to ripping it off its hinges), he demanded the foreman show him the armband. Taking a big sniff of it, he zeroed in on the one scent he couldn't smell in this town; the smell of the person who wore it.

"North," he growled. He stuffed the armband in his pocket and nodded to the foreman before leaving. The scent in the air was extremely faint, but it was there. Laxus followed it north, periodically backtracking to be sure he wasn't being followed, until he reached a small town.

There he traced the scent to a small home on the outskirts of the town. He kicked in the door to the hut and grabbed the young man there by his collar.

"Do you recognize this?" Laxus held up the armband in front of the man's nose. He took a deep breath, ignoring the disgusting smell of the man's fear; it was him. He growled low in his throat. "This was yours, wasn't it?"

The man nodded frantically, beads of sweat rolling down his face.

"Where is the guild?" Laxus' fist sparked.

"I-It's in the forest where the h-hearts live," the man stuttered. "That's all I know, I swear. I never went there alone."

Laxus clicked his tongue and threw the man to the ground roughly. He disappeared in a large bolt of lightning, travelling above the forests and towns searching for a clue to the guild's whereabouts.

He had travelled for hours, occasionally stopping to sniff around, until he was met with a vaguely familiar scent. Dropping to the ground, he found himself standing in the middle of a clearing; he looked around, sniffing. _'It smells like… Lucy?'_ His eyes landed on a giant oak tree radiating a tiny amount of magical power; the scent was also stronger around the tree trunk. Placing his scarred hand against the trunk, he channeled magic through his arm and into the wood.

Without his Dragon Slayer hearing Laxus wouldn't have hear the change in air pressure and leapt away from the tree as a gust of air sliced the spot he had been standing. Turning around, he scanned the dark clearing.

"You heard me move? How odd," a woman's voice rang through the clearing.

Laxus looked towards the voice and saw a woman, dressed in black, jump down from a tree and land a few feet away from him. He glowered.

The woman ignored his murderous gaze. "I suppose you're here because of the stupid Celestial mage my master wants to use for the Titan keys?" She slowly circled around Laxus, appraising him. "Blondie sure is surrounded by attractive men… Although I prefer the pierced man to you."

Annoyed, Laxus shot a bolt of lightning towards the woman. He snarled when she dodged it easily.

Landing lithely on her feet, she shook her finger at him. "Now now, don't you want to know why we need your little Celestial mage?"

Laxus stayed silent, glaring at the woman.

"You know," she continued conversationally. "The only reason Blondie is the one is because of her mother.

"Layla Heartfilia," she spit. "That woman refused to search for the keys, even when Master threatened her family. In the end, she was a liability to our plans. The master wanted her killed."

"You killed her," Laxus growled.

"Oh yes, I killed her," the woman laughed maniacally. "It was very satisfying to watch the life drain out of her while I cut into her and told her how her daughter would be next. But I suppose Graham will be the one to finish Lucy Heartfilia."

Thunder crashed above their heads, a huge bolt of lightning struck inches away from the Hell's Brimstone member. "Do you ever stop talking?" Laxus grumbled.

"That was very rude of you," the woman whined. "Even after I told you all that, this is how you thank me?"

"I don't do thank yous."

"Then I'm afraid our time is up, Blondie." Four mean appeared from the trees. The woman smiled and leapt onto a tree branch. "My name is Zita, I hope to meet you again, Blondie."

With that that woman leapt from tree to tree away from the clearing. Laxus watched her shadow until is disappeared and turned on the four mages around him. The first two, a plant mage and an earth mage, stepped forward.

The plant mage sent a vine towards him, but Laxus merely dodged the plant and charged the mage. He didn't use any magic; instead opting to send the man flying into the other. While the two mages struggled to get up Laxus sent a lightning roar towards them, knocking the two unconscious instantaneously.

The third mage, a water mage, drew water from the trees around and formed a water whip; he snapped it towards Laxus, catching his ankle. Laxus let himself be pulled off his feet and waited until he was close enough to the mage to send a bolt of lightning towards him, using his own water whip as a conductor. The lightning hit the water mage and slammed him back into a tree; he slumped over on the ground and didn't get back up.

The final mage was a fire mage. Laxus grinned; he had plenty of experience fighting fire mages. The fire mage engulfed his fist in blue flames and charged. Likewise, Laxus clenched his fist and let his magic manifest around it before running at the mage. The two met in the middle; there was a bright light when the two elements collided. The light died down and revealed the fire mage sprawled on the ground, his skin charred and smoking.

Laxus swore at the sight of his ruin shirt sleeve; he tore off the burnt scraps of cloth and ripped off his other sleeve to match. He turned away from the sight of the defeated mages, his mission completed. He found the entrance to Hell's Brimstone and why they wanted Lucy specifically. Glancing at the sky, Laxus sighed at the sun peeking up over the horizon, tinting the clouds pink; he'd been awake and gone all night.

Cracking his neck he transformed into lightning and teleported across the sky towards Magnolia. Once he was close, he could feel that Lucy wasn't at his house nor her apartment; he dropped to the street in the town square and sniffed. He caught a whiff of her usually strawberry and vanilla scent, but was thrown off by the scent of mint and wood mixed with it. There was only one person, besides Laki, that smelled like wood; Bickslow.

He stomped his way through the streets towards Bickslow's house. Time be damned, Laxus banged on the door heavily until he heard muffled footsteps. The door swung open a minute later, revealing Bickslow in pajama pants and messy hair.

"Where is my sister?" Laxus demanded, glaring. He enjoyed the way Bickslow's face paled slightly as he waved him into the house.

/ / /

Bickslow woke to the sound of someone pounding on his front door. He felt something soft wiggle closer to his side and remembered that Lucy had clung to him when he tried to leave her in the bed alone. She mumbled in her sleep and Bickslow almost decided to just close his eyes and go back to sleep; who knew when he would get to hold Lucy like this.

But the banging steadily became louder and more insistent. Groaning Bickslow reluctantly untangled himself from Lucy and stood up; she curled around his pillow. Running a hand through his tousled hair he made his way to the door, paying no mind to his lack of shirt. When he opened the door and saw who it was, his words died in his throat.

"Where is my sister?"

Bickslow paled; before him stood his best friend who just so happened to be the older brother of the woman he loved. Silently he waved Laxus into the house, ignoring the smug grin the Dragon Slayer gave him as he passed through. He noticed the painful lack of bedding on the couch as they went through the living room.

Laxus already knew that neither Bickslow nor Lucy slept on the couch, Bickslow's reaction to seeing him made it obvious that he'd done something. Bickslow may be his best friend, almost a brother to him, but Laxus wasn't above hurting his friend if something were to happen to Lucy. As he followed Bickslow, he was already preparing a plan as to what he would do to him.

When Bickslow pushed open the door to his bedroom, he stepped aside to let Laxus see his sister. He stood off to the side while Laxus knelt next to the bed, holding her nose closed until she began wheezing and finally opened her eyes.

Lucy was disoriented when she woke up; she was in an unfamiliar room and an unfamiliar bed, but her brother was kneeling in front of her. She sat up in the bed and looked around; Bickslow was standing by the door, looking as if death had come for him. Glancing down at herself, she understood why; Virgo had dressed her in Bickslow's t-shirt **again**. She yawned and rubbed the sleep from her eyes.

"Sleeping beauty has awoken, I see," Laxus teased, earning a light smack upside his.

"What do you want at the crack of dawn, bolt?" Lucy yawned again.

"Sorry to interrupt your beauty sleep, but we need to talk." Laxus dug through his rucksack and tossed a handful of clothes at her head. "Put your own clothes on and take your medicine, we'll wait in the living room."

Laxus didn't wait for a response; he turned and pull Bickslow out of the room with him, closing the door behind them.

Five minutes later Lucy was sitting on the couch beside Bickslow, a glass of milk on the table in front of her and Laxus sitting in the chair across it. They waited until she had swallowed her pills before starting.

"Before I get into the reason I'm here, I would like to know why you were sleeping in Bickslow's bed," Laxus grumbled. "And why you were wearing his shirt."

Lucy's cheeks flushed pink. "There was an incident so he brought me here, since you were gone. One thing led to another and Virgo ended up putting me in his shirt after a bath."

Laxus looked like he wanted to say more but stopped himself. Getting himself back on topic he said, "I found the entrance to Hell's Brimstone, or one of them at least. It turned out to be close to your old home, the mansion."

Lucy and Bickslow blinked. Neither was expecting that kind of news and the way Laxus said it didn't bode well for the future.

Nodding, he continued, "Ran into a woman from the guild, I think she was close to the master, and she told me why they wanted you." He paused. "Lu, do you know how your mother died?"

Lucy shook her head sadly. "Father told me that it was an accident; an out of control vehicle ran into her on the street. He wouldn't let me see her body."

Laxus sighed. "That's because it wasn't an accident that she died."

"What do you mean?" Bickslow asked.

"The woman I spoke to said that Layla Heartfilia was killed because she wouldn't collect the Titan keys," Laxus told them. "The master didn't want her to leak their plans to anybody."

"… That's what the message meant," Lucy breathed. Bickslow rubbed her back.

"What message?" Laxus looked between the two before him.

"Some bastard broke into her apartment yesterday while we were at the guild," Bickslow answered for her. "The place was trashed and there was something written on the wall. It said: You will meet the same fate as your mother if you ignore the Titan's call. Or something like that."

Laxus looked at his sister; she was staring at her feet. He noticed she was wringing her hands together, something she usually did when she was nervous or scared. "Did something else happen?"

"… I met a man from that guild," she whispered. If Laxus hadn't been a Dragon Slayer, he wouldn't have heard it. "He told me what would happen to you and the guild if I didn't find the keys."

" **What?** " Laxus was fuming. He glowered at Bickslow. "And where was your sorry ass when this happened?"

Bickslow flinched. "I was out getting food, Loke was with her when I left."

Laxus' eye twitched. He vowed to give that "shitty kitten spirit" a piece of his mind the next time he saw him, or he would find a way to the Spirit World himself and do it.

Lucy felt her brother's intense anger, it stung through the scare on her hand. She felt Loke's key warm. "Lax stop, Loke was with me until he said he had to go speak to the Spirit King. When he came back after the man left and Bix found me, he said that it was a lie; that he couldn't open his gate again after he left, nobody could."

"He had something that kept her from using magic," Bickslow added. The spirit didn't deserve to die for something he couldn't control.

Laxus took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down; he could feel Lucy trying to do the same through the bond. "Fine, I'll come back to that later."

Bickslow and Lucy nodded, relieved; the key went back to normal.

"For now I think we should continue looking for the keys," he continued. "It's safer until we figure out a plan to do something about this ratty guild."

Lucy nodded; she wasn't ready to test the validity of the man's promises to kill her family. Just seeing it in her mind was enough. "I think I know where the next one is."

/ / /

Hidden in shadow, Graham grinned evilly. He was one hundred percent serious in his promises to kill her loved ones; he almost wanted to do in one just so he could see the horrified expression on her face.

 _'And now she'll lead me to the next key…'_

/ / /

After they finished talking, the three mages decided to go to the guild. Lucy was nervous; she didn't know what to say to the members after what happened the day before.

Laxus felt his sister's hesitation and patted her head comfortingly. "Don't worry Blondie, nobody will say anything if I'm with you."

"Besides," Bickslow added. "It's only six o'clock, the only people there will be the ones that were too drunk to leave last night."

Lucy sighed. "I guess you're right…"

When they reached the guild, Laxus pushed the doors open and stepped aside to let Lucy enter first. Bickslow had been right, there weren't very many people in the guild. Cana was passed out over an empty barrel of beer, a half-full mug still clutched in her hand. Mira Jane and her siblings were cleaning up the mess from the night before, they paused to smile and wave at the newcomers. Surprisingly the remaining members of the Raijinshuu, Evergreen and Freed, were sitting at a table with Gajeel, talking.

But it was a white head of hair with the faintest hint of blue in it that caught Lucy's attention. Lucy recognized the bright blue rose pinned in the person's hair; it was Yukino.

"Lucy-sama!" In a blur of white feathers and blue accents, Yukino practically flew towards her fellow Celestial mage and three her arms around her.

Lucy waved Laxus and Bickslow to their team; she laughed as she hugged the other woman back. "Hi Yukino, how have you been?"

Yukino pulled back. "I've been fine, Lucy-sama. More importantly, how are you? Loke-sama told me about the Titan keys."

"Yeah… It's been difficult to say the least," Lucy sighed. She didn't mention it, but Lucy knew that Yukino was aware of what happened to Aquarius. If Loke had spoken to her, he would definitely have told her. Lucy decided to get it out of the way early. "Have you heard about Aquarius?"

Yukino nodded. "Libra spoke with her yesterday, I am so sorry you had to go through that. I can only imagine how it must feel to make that kind of decision." She touched Lucy's arm softly.

Lucy nodded glumly. She plastered a smile onto her face and perked up. "So what did you want to talk about with the keys?"

"Well," she began, settling down at a nearby table. "It's more about the guild that wants them."

Lucy sat in front of her. "Hell's Brimstone?"

Yukino nodded solemnly. "Yes that one. Sorano told me that it was once part of the Ballam Alliance, but it seceded when the alliance refused to listen to their plans."

"Why would they refuse the chance to gain that amount of power?" Lucy blinked, slightly shocked.

"She said it was because there weren't enough Celestial mages in Fiore that would be able to open multiple Titan keys at the same time," Yukino sighed. "In addition to the one mage that will find the keys, Hell's Brimstone requires two additional mages that have enough power to open multiple gates and hold them for extended periods of time..."

"But?"

"But because it's you, Lucy-sama, they wouldn't need any other Celestial mages," she finished, looking down at her clasped hands.

"Wha…" Lucy trailed off, at a loss for words. Did Hell's Brimstone think she had enough power to summon all twelve Titans? It was impossible.

"I don't know any more than that," Yukino apologized. "Crux might now more about why it is you are enough."

"Yo, Yukino! Can I borrow Luce for a bit?" Both women turned to find Natsu standing beside the table, his usual grin lighting up his face.

Yukino looked at Lucy, who nodded, and stood up. She hugged Lucy one last time before disappearing through the guild doors.

Lucy waited for Natsu to slide into Yukino's previous seat. "What's up, Natsu?"

Natsu rubbed the back of his head and looked at the table top. "I just wanted to apologize, y'know? For how I was about you being with Laxus and Bickslow so much. I guess I didn't understand why you would go to them instead of us when you had problems."

"Wait, you knew?"

"I might be an idiot but my nose doesn't lie," Natsu laughed. "Lisanna said I should wait until you wanted to tell me, but you took so long I started getting annoyed."

Lucy was dumbfounded. She had absolutely no idea that Natsu was waiting for her to talk; he acted exactly as he always did. A pang of guilt stabbed her chest painfully; she ignored Laxus' warning glare. She felt Natsu's warm hand cover her own.

"Hey, don't sweat it Luigi," he told her. "I'm just glad you didn't Lucy Kick me into the Spirit World for the things I said."

As expected Natsu was able to soothe Lucy's jittery nerves by breaking any awkward tension he felt. She giggled and smiled at her best friend. "Thanks Natsu. You've matured since you started the mating process with Lisanna."

"You think so?" Natsu grinned proudly. "But don't tell Mira or Elfman yet, I don't want to die before I even get to finish."

"My lips are sealed," Lucy promised. She waved him away. "Now go find your mate, I'm going to sit with Laxus."

"See you later, Luigi!" Natsu bounced from his seat and looked for Lisanna. When he found her, he skipped over to her side and casually threw an arm around her shoulders.

Lucy smiled at Lisanna and mouthed a thank you; she was sure Lisanna had sent Natsu to apologize. Lisanna smiled back and turned back to Natsu.

Standing up Lucy made her way towards the Raijinshuu plus Gajeel's table and plopped herself down between the two Dragon Slayers. She turned to Gajeel. "Where's Wendy?"

Gajeel grunted. "Squirt went on a mission with Titania that had sweets as the reward. She's gonna come back with a fuckin' mouthful of cavities."

"But at least she's having fun," Lucy shrugged. She chuckled when Gajeel grumbled to himself about "that brat and her shitty sweet tooth." She turned to Laxus and began poking his side repeatedly.

"What?" He grumbled, trying to grab her hands, cursing when she slipped them out of his grasp. "Why are you being so annoying, Blondie?"

"Because I'm in a good mood for once," Lucy chirped. "And you're the perfect victim, Light Bulb."

Freed and Evergreen watched, awed, as their leader gave up trying to stop her hands and started poking her back. They had never seen Laxus act like that, let alone allow somebody to call him any sort of nickname. They looked around the table and realized that Bickslow and Gajeel didn't seem at all fazed by Laxus' behavior. Evergreen turned to Bickslow.

"Um… What's going on?" she whispered.

Bickslow looked around the guild, wondering what she was talking about, until she pinched his arm and tilted her head towards the two blonds. Bickslow laughed. "Oh, **that**. It's just two siblings doing what siblings to best; fight."

"Yes, but when did this "sibling" relationship happen?" Freed gestured towards Laxus and Lucy. "I think we would have known if Laxus-sama suddenly took an interest in Lucy-san." Evergreen nodded, still gaping.

Bickslow shrugged. "Not necessarily."

"Why not?" Evergreen huffed.

Gajeel cut in, crunching on a mouthful of metal. "It doesn't work that way with Slayers."

Freed and Evergreen looked at Gajeel.

"It's like meeting your mate; you just know," he shrugged, picking up another chunk of metal.

"What he means," Lucy elaborated, catching her breath. Laxus sat back with a triumphant grin. "Is that there doesn't need to be a withstanding relationship in order for a kinship to form. Light Bulb over here realized it after the Grand Magic Games."

"How did you notice?" Freed turned to Laxus, eyes alight with curiosity.

Laxus shrugged. "I thought it was weird that I could feel Blondie's pain and got extremely angry whenever she was hurt; which happens to be all the time."

Lucy ignored the taunt. "I made Gaj tell me what was going on when he tried to ignore me for a while; it didn't last very long though."

Freed and Evergreen were speechless. Not only had Lucy become their leader's little sister, she had also grown closer to Gajeel; he usually hits anybody (mainly Natsu) that tries to call him anything other than his name. They watched Lucy as she traded barbs with Gajeel, each one throwing very colorful names to the other. Gajeel threatened to force Lucy into a bunny suit and sing a song in the middle of the town; Lucy responded by promising him that one day she would fix an extremely strong magnet to the ceiling and hang him from the piercing in his tongue.

Lucy was definitely different than when they first met her. Freed and Evergreen couldn't believe that she had sacrificed a spirit to save the guild, she shone just as bright as the "Light of Fairy Tail" always did.

"Princess, you said that you think you know where the next key is?" Bickslow asked, switching topics.

 _ **'Princess?'**_

The table, sans Lucy and Bickslow, raised an eyebrow.

"I'm eighty-five percent sure I know where it is," she nodded, ignoring the table's reaction to the nickname.

"Where?"

"It's in the water," she announced. The table fell silent, everybody stared at the Celestial mage.

Lucy blinked. "What?"

"Starmie, you do realize how much water there is in the world, don't you?" Laxus stared at his sister. She nodded happily. "So how do you expect to find it? Scuba dive in every source of water from one side of Fiore to the next?"

"Of course not; that would take years." Lucy shook her head. "I'll just follow the song."

/ / /

Graham stood next to his master silently as they watched Zita enter the office.

"Master," she greeted, bowing her head.

"Zita," Eckhart grumbled. "I understand you met a fairy last night?"

"Yes, Laxus Dreyar," Zita informed him. "He is the grandson of the current Fairy Tail master and the lightning Dragon Slayer."

"I see," the master drawled. "There is just one thing I would like to know from you."

Eckhart stood up and walked around his desk, stopping a foot away from the woman.

"What possessed you to run away from fighting him?"

"Master, I-"

Eckhart raised his arm and swung, the back of his hand hitting her cheek hard. She crumpled to the floor holding her cheek; there was blood dripping through her fingers from the cut left by his ring.

"I do not tolerate weaklings, Zita," Eckhart's voice boomed. He towered over the woman menacingly. "When I give an order to dispose of all fairies you encounter, I expect it to be done. Do not disappoint me again, I won't be so lenient next time."

"Yes, Master…" Zita mumbled, cradling her cheek and blinking away tears. She could feel her blood seeping through her fingers, sticky and warm.

Eckhart sneered down at the woman for a moment longer before turning and striding out of the room; he gestured for Graham to follow. On his way out, Graham paused in front of Zita and leaned down, getting close to her face.

"Zita Acker, who laughed as she brutally murdered Layla Heartfilia, can't even take out a single fairy," he snickered. "It must eat you alive that the pleasure of killing Lucy Heartfilia will belong to me."

Zita glared at the man before her hatefully. Her teeth clenched painfully as she tried to remain silent; speaking would only make her face hurt even worse.

Graham laughed heartily; the woman looked so pitiful with tears in her eyes and blood staining her skin. He followed after his master, not even sparing her a second glance. She wasn't someone of importance anyway.

* * *

 **And thus ends the fourth chapter. I don't want to toot my own horn, but I think I'm doing pretty well with this whole multi-chapter thing. Of course, that's for the readers to decide though.**

 **Unfortunately summer is coming to an end for me. I'm moving into my new apartment sometime the first week and a half of August and classes start on the 25th. Not only that, but I have to get a job so balancing all of that and writing will be a challenge. I hope to get at least one more chapter uploaded before school starts and hopefully have another in the works. Make a sacrifice to the creative gods for me, I'm gonna need it.**

 **As always, thank you for reading! Feel free to tell me what you think or anything you want to see happen. There are three different ways to contact me, don't let them go to waste!**

 ****It's come to my attention that To Heal the Heart does not show up on FF mobile, so I'll figure out how to fix that!**

 *****Also I would just like to say that if you want to leave a review or talk to me in anyway but aren't sure bc English is not your first language, don't worry about that. Send a review or a message in any language you're comfortable in and I will translate it. If you can take the time to read something that's not in your first language, I can sure as hell take a few minutes to translate anything you want to say. Don't ever feel like you have to speak perfect English to be able to talk to me, EVER.**

 **With love,**

 **Lau** **( ͡~ ͜ʖ ͡°)**

 **Tschüss!**

 **Coming soon to an electronic device near you:**

 _ **Sibling Rivalry ** [A sibling Lalu one-shot, possible collection of sibling FT ships; in progress]_

 ** _From Steps to Leaps ch. 4_ **_[in progress]_


	5. Chapter 5

**I humbly present chapter 5 of To Heal the Heart.**

 **Standard disclaimer: I own nothing but the OCs and plot.**

* * *

 _"Of course not; that would take years." Lucy shook her head. "I'll just follow the song."_

 _/ / /_

"... Blondie, are you okay?"

Lucy looked at Laxus curiously. "Yeah, why?"

Everyone at the table was silent, just staring at her as if she was crazy. Minutes went by with nobody saying anything; she was starting to get fed up with their looks. She narrowed her eyes at each of them. " **What?** "

"What are these keys anyway? That girl from Sabertooth made it seem like it was something serious," Evergreen wondered.

Freed cut in, "The Titan keys are, if I remember correctly, extremely rare; most people don't think they even exist."

"That's true." Lucy nodded. "The thing about the Titan keys is that you can't just find or buy them anywhere; the key chooses its owner. They are **the most** powerful of all Celestial spirits without constellations."

"And a song is telling you where to find the next one?" Evergreen snorted incredulously. "That doesn't seem very reliable if they're so important."

Lucy's face lost any trace of her earlier cheeriness, replaced by a deadpan expression and empty eyes. She didn't expect them to believe her right away; it was true that following a song to a Titan key didn't seem like the most reasonable way to go about it. But there was nothing she could about it.

"You don't have to believe me," she intoned, fixing Freed and Evergreen with a blank stare. "But it's the only way to find the key and it needs to be found **now** ; before Hell's Brimstone can figure out where it is."

"Is that a dark guild that wants the keys?" Freed asked. Lucy nodded. He continued, "How serious are they about taking them from you?"

His question was met with silence; Lucy had looked down at her hands, tracing the scar anxiously. Bickslow decided to answer for her.

"Serious enough to kill her mother for not finding them," he stated blandly.

Freed and Evergreen froze; they weren't expecting an answer like that. They looked from Bickslow to Lucy, who was still fiddling with her hands, to Laxus; he nodded solemnly. The table settled into an uncomfortable silence.

"So," Gajeel grunted, crunching on a piece of metal," when are we leaving?"

All heads turned to look at him.

"You're coming with us?" Lucy was surprised; she only thought that Bickslow and Laxus would go with her, for obvious reasons.

Gajeel shrugged. "Why not? Squirt's not here, Lily went with her, and the Shrimp's gone too; it's not like I have anything better to do."

"You could at least lie and say it was for Blondie's sake, y'know," Laxus grunted.

"Just because I didn't say that doesn't mean I'm not," Gajeel huffed back.

"Yeah and saying you have nothing better to do makes it-"

Lucy pinched the two Slayer's on either side of her, ignoring their cussing; there were more important things to do than argue over something so petty. "So with Gajeel that makes four of us going," she announced.

"I'd like to go as well," Freed added.

"Sure." Lucy turned to the last person sitting at the table.

"Count me in," Evergreen sighed. "If anything it won't be a total sausage fest for you."

"Because you're so ladylike yourself," Bickslow snickered. He dodged Evergreen's fan as she tried to hit him. Eventually he grabbed her wrists and held them away from him; he looked at Lucy. "So where exactly are we going?"

"Well..." Lucy flinched slightly as all eyes were on her again. "I don't exactly have an exact location..."

"Then what direction?"

Lucy closed her eyes, listening to the song only she could hear. A minute later she reopened them and addressed the whole table.

"East."

/ / /

Later that evening Lucy was curled up on the couch reading a book; she could hear Laxus shuffling around in the kitchen. After they finished talking with the Raijinshuu and Gajeel, Lucy felt mentally exhausted. She decided to go home and take a nap, hoping she would feel better when she woke up; her subconscious wasn't feeling very charitable towards her at the time.

 _Lucy was at the beach, standing ankle-deep in the water. Around her the guild members were scattered across the sand; Cana was trying to convince everyone (except the children) to have a guild-wide drinking contest, Natsu and Gray were fighting over who could build a better sand castle while Lisanna and Juvia watched in amusement. Erza, Mirajane, and Evergreen were laying on towels, tanning; Makarov was buried in the sand, facing away from everyone, as punishment for staring. Despite the activity, it was a peaceful moment for Lucy._

 _She closed her eyes, enjoying the warm sun and cool breeze, the sounds of her family buzzing around her; everything was perfect. The water turned warm around her feet and something brushed against her leg, interrupting her peace._

 _"Natsu," she called, not opening her eyes, "I swear on each one of my Spirits, if you tried to set the water around me on fire or, God forbid, peed near me I will personally render you biologically incapable of procreating."_

 _There was no answer._

 _"Natsu?" She tried again; silence. She realized that she didn't hear anything; nobody fighting, no drunken brawls, nothing. Confused Lucy slowly opened her eyes, letting them adjust to the bright sun, and looked down. Her breathing stopped and she could hear her own heartbeat pounding in her chest. It wasn't fire or urine warming the water; it was blood. And it wasn't a fish that touched her leg; it was an arm._

 _Lucy slowly, shakily turned around, praying that her eyes were deceiving her; they weren't. The sand looked like a battlefield and Fairy Tail was the loser; it looked like hell. There was blood everywhere; the sand was soaked, the rocks and beach umbrellas splattered with dark red. Lucy felt bile rise in the back of her throat. Body parts were strewn all over, stacked in piles as if someone had put them that way. There were heads and limbs floating in the shallow red water._

 _Makarov's head had been ripped from his body, still buried in the sand; Erza, Mirajane, and Evergreen were sliced as if they were loaves of bread. Natsu and Gray were ripped apart limb by limb, their pieces floating in the water; Lisanna and Juvia had holes in their chests, their hearts lying near their bodies. Cana was stuffed into her barrel of beer, the wood still on fire; the exceeds were hanging from a javelin that had pierced their skulls._

 _"Not a particularly pretty sight is it?"_

 _Lucy paled as she noticed the person standing in the midst of the carnage; she knew exactly who it was._

 _"You seem shocked, Lucy," Graham commented as if he was surprised. He dropped the two heads he had been holding and began walking towards Lucy slowly._

 _Her eyes followed the heads as they landed in the sand; Laxus and Bickslow's stared forward, glassed over. Lucy screamed; she stumbled out of the water and collapsed into the bloodied sand._

 _Graham sighed. "You know, I always hated that women scream whenever they see something unpleasant. Is it really necessary?"_

 _"W-Why..." Lucy whimpered. She didn't understand why someone would massacre her family this way, there was no reason._

 _With a trembling hand she reached for her keys, but she never touched them._

 _"No no, none of that, Ms. Heartfilia," he tutted. His hand twitched at his side almost unnoticeably._

 _For a second, nothing happened._

 _"GUH!" Lucy groaned as pain shot up her arm; she shivered violently although her hand felt as if it were on fire. She felt something warm and sticky drip down into the palm of her hand. Blood, she thought. She looked down at her right hand, expecting to see something sticking out of her hand, but there was nothing. Blood flowed from the center of her hand but there was no open wound. Experimentally she tried to move her fingers; another wave of pain traveled up from her hand, more excruciating than before._

 _Her entire body went limp and she fell face first into the sand. She heard footsteps crunching towards her, a sickening squelch with each step. The man's shadow fell over her._

 _"You ask "why" as if you don't know?" Graham shook his head, disappointed. He kneeled in front of her, leaning down to speak into her ear. "I told you that I would personally take care of your family if you refused to cooperate with me."_

 _"... B-but I do-don't kn-know where the k-keys are..." Lucy stuttered, breathing heavily._

 _Graham stood up, looking down at her as if she were nothing but dirt; he put his foot on her hand. Slowly he pressed down with all his weight._

 _Lucy's agonizing screams filled the air around them; blood flowed from her now use-less arm, absorbed by the sand beneath her._

 _"I don't give empty threats, Lucy Heartfilia," he crooned, enjoying her pain. "Look on the bright side; you won't have to search for the keys anymore!"_

 _Graham turned and strode away from the beach until his disappeared, materializing into thin air._

 _Gasping for breath Lucy's eyes darted around, looking at her family's massacred bodies. The sight faded slowly as her eyes closed, the last thing she saw being the heads of her brother and beloved._

"You shouldn't hold a book that tight, I'm 95% sure it's not good for them."

Lucy jumped when she felt something hot touch the back of her neck. She turned around, scowling, and took the mug Laxus was holding out to her. She cradled the mug in her hands, blowing on the tea a little before taking a sip; it burned her lounge.

"What would you know about books?" She stuck her tongue out at him. "The only thing you read is a paycheck."

"That's not true," he argued.

She raised an eyebrow. "Oh really?"

"I read guild paperwork," he said, shrugging.

Lucy snorted. "Oh yes, you read about the trail of destruction caused by my team."

"The main cause of my headaches," he sighed dramatically. Laxus sat in a chair across from the couch. "So?"

"So, what?"

"You know what, Blondie." He crossed his arms. "Why were you trying to put that book in a choke hold?"

Lucy looked down, fiddling with the teabag. "I just remembered the dream I had earlier," she mumbled without looking up.

"How many times do I have to tell you it won't happen?" Laxus sighed. "You know - roughly - where the key is, you've got a fucking entourage so you don't get hurt, and nothing is gonna happen."

"I know that," she admitted. "But seeing you guys dead, real or not, leaves an impression."

"If it'll make you feel better I can do the stereotypical big brother stint and tell you that every man is evil so you won't date until you're at least 25," Laxus shrugged. "It'd keep you from thinking about the dream at least."

"You couldn't be a stereotypical big brother even if you tried," Lucy stated as if it were general knowledge. She set her half-empty mug on the coffee table and adjusted herself comfortably. "But if you really want to, I'll try to be a good sport for you."

"I'll be sure to express my gratitude," he promised. "Though I really don't have to say anything because you already know what I'm talking about."

"True," she nodded. "I have to say, it's a little weird how serious you are about hurting your best friend for your sister. I'm starting to think that you have a sister complex, Light Bulb."

"Coming from the girl that pestered me until I gave in to the Dragon-y feelings," he snorted. "I thought you were going to become a stalker, honestly."

Lucy threw a pillow at his head, which he caught reflexively. She pretended to pout, picking up her mug and turning it in her hands. Neither said anything for a few minutes, until Lucy spoke up. "Why do you think it has to be me?"

"Because you attract danger to yourself like flies on shit," he said bluntly.

Lucy frowned. "I'm being serious, Laxus."

"So am I; you really are a magnet for danger," he shrugged. "But in all seriousness it's like mother, like daughter. They wanted your mom but now that she's not an option, they want you."

"So because my mother was "the one" before me, I basically inherited it?" Lucy groaned.

"If you keep going on like this, your future children are fucked. The genetics on both sides suck."

"I thought we were done talking about my love life?" she huffed. "Why do you assume I would have kids with him? Or have kids at all?"

"Because you have a very bad habit of mothering people," he explained. Yawning he stood up and took Lucy's mug to the kitchen. He walked back into the living room and gave her a noogie. "I don't know about you but I haven't slept in over 24 hours and we're gonna have a long ass day tomorrow; I'm going to sleep. Night, Starmie."

Lucy frowned as she pushed his hand away; she ran her fingers through her hair to fix the damage. "Good night, Light Bulb."

/ / /

"So all we know is that we have to go east?"

Lucy yawned widely, leaning heavily against her brother. She was exhausted; it wasn't even daylight yet and she didn't get much sleep the night before. Her eyes were struggling to stay open.

"All the way to Bosco at least," she mumbled, grateful that Laxus held her up.

"You're not a morning person are you Princess?" Bickslow snapped his fingers in front of her face, laughing when he received a half-hearted kick to his shin.

Lucy glared at him. "Well if **some people** hadn't died in my dreams, I would have actually gotten sleep last night," she huffed.

The group looked at Laxus questioningly; he shrugged.

"Beats me," he lied. Freed and Evergreen bought it, but Bickslow and Gajeel knew better.

"Sure," Gajeel snorted. "And I collect porcelain cat figurines."

"That's not really unbelievable, Gaj," Lucy commented. "You do have a soft side under all that metal."

"Since when did bunnies learn how to talk?" He grabbed her cheeks, stretching them. Lucy whined and tried to smack his arms; he grabbed her wrists and held them still, laughing when she tried to kick him instead.

While Lucy and Gajeel argued, Bickslow stood next to Laxus.

"You know what she was talking about, don't you?" He regarded Laxus with a side glance.

"Of course I do," he said gravely. "But it's on her if she wants to tell you or anyone else."

"Does it have something to do with the keys?"

"Like I said, if she wants to tell you, she will." The train whistled sharply as it pulled into the station. It was the first train of the day going east so it as empty save for the engineers. Laxus picked up his and Lucy's bags and stepped onto the platform. "Gajeel, quit being a brat and put her on the train."

"Don't tell me what to do, electro-boy," he called back. Gajeel let go of Lucy's wrists and grabbed her around the waist, hoisting her up over his shoulder before following Laxus onto the train.

Freed, Evergreen, and Bickslow filed onto the train silently. Freed and Evergreen were still in awe of how easily Lucy was able to mess with Gajeel; Bickslow was more worried about the dreams Lucy had.

On the train Laxus sat in a booth with Lucy stretched out next to him, her head resting on his leg. Bickslow and Gajeel claimed the seat in front of them, leaving Freed and Evergreen to sit in a different booth across the aisle.

"It's kind of interesting to see Laxus this way," Evergreen whispered to Freed. "He's like a normal person now."

"Laxus-sama has always been a normal person," Freed defended. "But I agree, it is interesting to watch."

"You know I can hear you right?" Laxus turned toward them, eyebrow raised. He pointed to his ear, for once free of headphones. "Dragon hearing, remember?"

Evergreen hmph'd, crossing her arms under her breasts and pointedly avoided his gaze; Freed apologized, bowing his head repeatedly.

The group fell silent; some sleeping, reading, or just watched the landscape go by. They all settled in for a long ride; it would be a while before the first stop.

/ / /

Ten hours and three stops later the group had finally reached Bosco. Lucy stepped off the train, rubbing her lower back.

"Those seats are so uncomfortable," she grumbled. The rest of the team exited the train behind her, stretching.

Gajeel flopped onto his back, his face still slightly pale. "It wouldn't have been so bad if you woulda let us actually take a break!"

"I'm sorry that I wanted to travel far enough just in case I was being followed by the people that will kill me if I don't do what they say," she quipped. "And you're just being a big baby because of your motion sickness."

"When did you get so mouthy?" Gajeel groaned as he slowly stood up, albeit unsteadily.

Before Lucy could respond with a sarcastic comeback they were surrounded by five little totems, all hovering closer to Lucy.

"Lucy nice!" They chanted, spinning around happily.

Gajeel regarded the totems for a minute before picking up his rucksack, throwing it over his shoulder. "So where are we sleeping?"

"The forest," Lucy said immediately. "It's safer than staying in a hotel and being sitting ducks to Hell's Brimstone."

Shrugging Gajeel turned and lead the way into the forest, everyone following.

The totems still hovered around Lucy as they entered the forest. Aside from their footsteps and the occasional wolf howling, the forest was quiet. Eventually Bickslow fell into step beside her at the back of the group, but said nothing.

Lucy stared ahead, conscious of Bickslow looking at her periodically. She didn't need to look at him to know that he wanted to know about the dream she had mentioned before they left Magnolia. 'Why did I say that?' she chastised herself. 'Oh that's right, because you have no rationality when you're tired! How the hell am I supposed to tell him that dream was a certified blood bath?' She glanced to the side, accidentally making eye contact with him. She quickly faced the backs of the rest of the group. 'Well that was awkward...'

She grabbed one of the totems - the sad looking one - and traced the carving lines, just so she had something to do with her hands.

Bickslow noticed the way Lucy refused to look at him; he figured it was because she knew what he wanted to ask. Or she didn't want to be too close to him because the rest of his team and Gajeel were there, but he didn't think that was the issue at the moment. They continued walking in silence for a while before Bickslow decided just to ask.

"What did you mean this morning?"

Lucy flinched slightly, unaware that her pace had slowed. She tried to act like nothing happened. "I don't remember saying anything this morning."

"Do you know that you can't lie for shit?"

"It didn't really mean anything," she lied, though she knew he wouldn't buy it.

"Then why-"

"Lovebirds, you wanna stop flirting for a sec and walk a little faster," Gajeel yelled. "We're stopping here."

Surprised, Lucy saw that they had fallen behind the others. She was grateful that Gajeel had called right then because it meant that she was spared from answering.

"Coming!" She didn't look at Bickslow again as she jogged the rest of the way to the team, the babies following her excitedly.

Bickslow clicked his tongue, annoyed. He just wanted to know what would keep Lucy from sleeping while she normally slept like the dead; he knew that from experience. But it was like everybody was making it their personal mission to keep that from happening.

He slowly followed Lucy, meeting up with the rest. When he reached them, Evergreen was already passing out chores.

"Laxus and Gajeel, use your dragon skills to get some food while Freed writes runes around here," she ordered. She looked at Bickslow. "You can get firewood."

"And what are you and Bunny gonna do?" Gajeel huffed.

Evergreen pinned him with a hard stare. "Lucy and I are going to find drinkable water," she informed him.

"So you're going to take a camp-bath," Laxus translated blandly.

"That too." Evergreen smiled sweetly as the men reluctantly did as they were told, not without a few vocalized complaints from Gajeel. She grabbed Lucy's hand and tugged her along behind her, leaving Freed alone at the camp.

Lucy followed Evergreen in silence, unsure of Evergreen's feelings towards her. Did Evergreen resent Lucy's sudden appearance into their team? Did she not like how close she had become with Laxus and was now becoming with Bickslow? Something inside her was convinced that Evergreen hated her, but Lucy refused to give in.

When they reached a small stream not too far from the campsite Lucy and Evergreen stripped down to their underwear and waded into the water.

"I actually wanted to thank you, Lucy," Evergreen said quietly.

Lucy looked up from braiding her hair to the side, surprised. "What for?"

"Being there for Laxus." Evergreen gathered her hair, tying it into a loose bun on the top of her head.

Lucy blinked. "What do you mean?"

"You know about Laxus' father, right?" She waited for Lucy's nod before continuing. "After all of that happened Laxus started losing his way, which ultimately lead to the Fantasia incident."

"He told me about all of that," Lucy said, nodding. "But what does that have to do with me?"

Evergreen turned to Lucy, smiling. "I may not have noticed the relationship between you two, but I did notice that Laxus started getting better after a while. You should have seen him during the Grand Magic Games; Freed had to write runes to keep him from tearing Flare apart."

Lucy remembered thinking it was odd that Laxus came by the infirmary so often.

"I guess what I'm trying to say is that we got to see the old Laxus again," she continued. "So thank you for bringing our brother back."

Not knowing what to say Lucy silently handed Evergreen a little ball of soap and the two women began scrubbing the dirt from their skin. Truthfully Lucy was ecstatic to know that she had been a positive addition to Laxus' life but she felt it nothing in comparison to the impact he had had on her life. The scar on her left palm tingled slightly; Lucy smiled to herself and continued washing.

/ / /

Lucy tossed and turned, unable to sleep despite being physically and mentally exhausted. She sat up in her sleeping bag and looked around the campsite. The fire they had cooked over had died into glowing embers; the rest of the team was sleeping as peacefully as possible with Gajeel's snoring. Quietly Lucy wiggled out of her sleeping bag and tiptoed into the trees, making sure to stay within eyeshot of the camp.

She settled beneath a large tree, looking at the night sky through the branches. It was a clear night and between the branches Lucy spied the constellation of Aquarius.

"I haven't used much magic lately," she mused. "I wonder if I can hold a connection longer than five minutes now."

Lucy closed her eyes and recalled what Loke had told her a few days after the battle with Tartarus.

 _"There is a way for you to still see Aquarius without you having to physically come to the Celestial plane," he had said._

 _"How?" Lucy looked up from cradling the broken key in her hands._

 _Loke kneeled in front of her and touched her hands. "You form a connection between the two realms and force yourself into the Celestial plane in a spiritual form. It takes years to master and a lot of magical power, though."_

 _Lucy clutched the key in her fist, the broken edges cutting into her skin. She gave Loke a determined look. "I want to learn how to do it. I don't care how long or how much power it takes; I'll do it."_

Taking a deep breath she channeled her magic into the broken key hanging around her neck; there was an immediate drop in her magical power. She could feel a path opening to the Celestial world; Beads of sweat appeared on her forehead as she focused on keep the connection open long enough to send herself through.

It felt like hours before Lucy felt her magical power stabilize; she opened her eyes and looked around. The forest was replaced by a dark sky filled with stars, glowing paths connected the floating planets. To her right there was a huge, white marble fountain bubbling vivaciously.

"Took you long enough," a strong voiced snapped. "If I'm late for my date with Scorpio, I'm going to make you regret it, little girl."

Lucy let out a relieved breath; she made it. She stood up and made her way towards the mermaid spirit and fountain; she sat on the fountain ledge. "Sorry. I don't know how long I can keep up a connection."

Aquarius huffed indignantly, her tail swished back and forth. "So? What do you want?"

For a few seconds, Lucy said nothing; she just looked at her oldest spirit. The little girl in her was ecstatic that she could see and talk to Aquarius again, to see her last mother figure.

"Well?" Aquarius raised an eyebrow.

"I don't really know what to do, Quarry," Lucy sighed, using her old nickname for the mermaid. "There's an entire guild waiting to kill me if I don't collect the Titan keys."

"You always did have the shittiest luck since you joined Fairy Tail," Aquarius nodded. "But you're used to that by now, aren't you?"

"Yeah..." Lucy wrung her hands together nervously.

"What else?"

Lucy glanced at the mermaid. "I need some advice."

Aquarius leaned against the wall of the fountain, folding her arms on top of the ledge. "Did you finally get a boyfriend?"

"Maybe," Lucy mumbled, blushing. "I don't really know what to think about him."

"It's not that pincushion that tried to kill you before is it?"

"No!" Lucy shook her head. "Gajeel is like a brother to me."

"So it's the helmet guy," Aquarius stated.

"Bickslow," Lucy told her absently.

"Right," the spirit snorted. "Anyway, what's the problem?"

Lucy fell silent. 'What /is/ the problem?' she wondered. She didn't know why she felt the need to talk to somebody about it. Maybe she was just being sentimental; a daughter asking her mother about boys. Though deep down Lucy knew why she hesitated; she didn't feel like she deserved to be loved. She didn't feel like she deserved to be happy.

Aquarius sighed. "Look kid, just feel it out and see what happens. If there's something rotten about his intentions it'll start to smell eventually.

"I've got a date to get to, so you'll have to be a big girl and figure it out for yourself for now." The spirit pushed up from the fountain wall. She paused. "You're looking for the Ocean keys next right?"

Lucy nodded, wondering where this was going. "Yeah, that's right."

The mermaid chuckled. "Be prepared for a surprise when you find them."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You'll see. Later, brat." Aquarius bowed her head in goodbye before disappearing in a flash of blue light, off to rendezvous with Scorpio.

Once she had disappeared completely Lucy severed the flow of magic into the key and the world around went black.

Slowly she came back to herself and her eyes fluttered open. The first thing she noticed was that she was no longer leaning against the tree trunk; she was lying on her back, he head and shoulders resting on something soft yet firm. She blinked rapidly, trying to clear the dizziness of her depleted magic reserves.

Something moved on her stomach and she looked down to find five little totems gathered together. She also noticed that she had been covered with a blanket.

"Have a nice nap?"

Lucy sat up, sending the totems scrambling into the air. She regretted the action when the forest around her spun and she began falling back.

"Whoa, there." Bickslow caught her shoulders and held her steady. "You alright there, Princess?"

"Y-Yeah..." Lucy shook her head lightly. She took the blanket off and wrapped it around her shoulders, sitting cross-legged next to Bickslow. "Thanks."

"Anytime," he answered, watching as the babies crowded into Lucy's lap, snuggling into the blanket. He glanced at her face; it was pale. "So what are you doing out here?"

"When I was little and felt alone after my mother died I used to look at the stars," she told him, turning her head back towards the sky. "It made me feel less alone, like Mom was sitting there with me."

Bickslow thought he saw a tear roll down her cheek. "But you weren't looking at the stars, you were knocked out cold."

Lucy dropped her gaze to her lap; she stroked the smooth wood of the little totems. "I was talking to Aquarius."

"How can you do that if her key is broken?" Bickslow asked.

"Loke taught me a way to connect with her by projecting myself into the Celestial realm," Lucy explained. "I probably passed out because it takes a lot of magic and I was there longer than I've ever been before."

Bickslow let out a low whistle. "Did you always have this much magic?"

"Well I did beat you before I achieved Second Origin," she pointed out, trying to lighten the mood. "So yes, I've always had this much magic."

"I still say you cheated because you were dressed like a hot cheerleader and it distracted me," he grinned, tongue lolling out. "And Tenrou doesn't count either because you and Cana were wearing bikinis."

"That was a pathetic fight on your part, you know," Lucy quipped. "Two members of the Raijinshuu taken down by two young women in swimsuits, that was so sad."

"I'd rather lose to a beautiful woman than get my ass kicked," Bickslow shrugged.

"You're disgusting, you know that?"

"Aw, come on Princess," Bickslow whined. He threw an arm around her shoulders, leaning heavily against her. "You know you love me."

"I'm not going to give you the satisfaction of a response to that." Lucy tried to shove him off without disturbing the babies; he didn't budge.

Ignoring her struggle to get free, Bickslow continued to lean against her. He rested his chin on top of her head. "I'll squeeze it out of you one day."

"Humph," Lucy huffed. A cool wind blew through the forest, stirring the loose leaves and pitting the branches against each other. Lucy shivered slightly and pulled the blanket tighter around her, unconsciously scooting closer to Bickslow.

The pair sat in comfortable silence for a few moments before Bickslow remembered something. "Cosplayer?"

"Hm?" Lucy had almost fallen asleep, tucked into his side.

"What was that dream you mentioned this morning?"

Lucy froze, now wide awake. She stared forward blankly, her knuckles whitened around fistfuls of the blanket.

Bickslow watched her eyes dull and felt her hands trembling. He tried to get her to look at him. "Lucy?"

She took a deep breath, willing herself to calm down.

"Hell's Brimstone followed through on their threat to kill my family if I didn't cooperate," Lucy whispered almost silently. "There was blood everywhere... Y-You and Laxus w-were..."

She trailed off, unable to finish. Trembling violently Lucy curled in on herself, her knees pulled up to her chest and her arms wrapped around them like a vice. The babies hovered around her, cooing worriedly.

"Lucy sad?"

"Lucy cheer up!" they chanted.

Bickslow wrapped his other arm around her and pulled her up from her spot, settling her on his lap. Her head was tucked under his chin as he slowly rocked back and forth, trying to calm her.

"It's okay Princess," he murmured into her hair. "That's not going to happen. I won't let it and neither will Laxus."

Lucy whimpered silently. She released her death grip on the blanket in favor of twisting the fabric of Bickslow's shirt between her fingers. She refused to cry; Hell's Brimstone didn't deserve her tears. Slowly the gentle rocking and the sound of Bickslow's heartbeat calmed her down. She let go of his shirt; instead slipping her arms around his waist.

"Thank you, Bickslow," she mumbled against his chest.

His arms tightened around her in answer as he hummed quietly, still rocking; the babies perched on his shoulders.

Lucy felt the exhaustion of the day seep into her, physically and magically. Her eyes slipped closed and she fell asleep under the tree wrapped in the arms of the person she loved.

/ / /

The sunlight shone through the branches, landing directly on Laxus' closed eyes. He tried rolling over but gave up trying to sleep longer when he couldn't get comfortable anymore. Reluctantly he sat up and stretched, his joints popping. Looking around he noticed that there were two members of their group missing; his best friend and his little sister.

"Not this shit again..."

He stood up and rolled his sleeping bag, dumping it into a pile with Lucy's before going to look for her. On the other side of the dead campfire Gajeel snored, sprawled out. Laxus wondered how any of them slept the night before with Gajeel snoring that loud.

The wind rustled the trees and Laxus sniffed lightly, picking up on Lucy's strawberries and vanilla scent; it was mixed with another scent. Laxus followed the scent trail from the camp to a large tree fifty feet from the campsite. He wasn't surprised to find his little sister literally wrapped around his friend, even though he wasn't pleased at the sight.

He decided to forego a traditional wake up; instead touching Lucy's shoulder lightly, utilizing his magic to shock her. The shock went traveled through Lucy and into Bickslow. The pair jumped, unceremoniously disentangling their limbs.

"Laxus!" Lucy squeaked. "What was that for?!"

"Mornin' Blondie," Laxus responded nonchalantly. He looked down at his silent friend. "We really need to stop meeting like this, Bix."

Bickslow groaned, tired and annoyed at the rude awakening. "I agree wholeheartedly, Lax."

"Glad to see we're on the same page, my friend," Laxus nodded approvingly. He stood up and began walking back towards the camp. "Joins us for breakfast when you're ready and then we can figure out where to go from here."

An hour later the group had eaten breakfast and broken up the campsite. They were standing around the dead fire, discussing their next move.

"Alright Bunny girl, where to next?" Gajeel asked, hefting his pack onto his shoulder.

Lucy looked up from re-braiding her hair; she listened for a few seconds before answering.

"We keep going east," she finally announced.

* * *

 **So... This chapter turned out around 3,000 words less than chapter four. Originally it was going to be longer (as in they were going to find the keys) but I've been working on this for a while and I just wanted to give y'all something.**

 **That being said, it's probably going to be even longer for another update because I'm an idiot and have like 6 other things to write before it cycles back around... But at least those might be good? Positivity.**

 **As always, thank you bunches for reading! Feel free to tell me what you think or offer suggestions, I'm always a slut for feedback.**

 **With love,**

 **Lau**

* * *

 **Incoming:**

 **Sibling Rivalry ch. 2** _[Lucy/Juvia v. Laxus/Gajeel; in progress]_

 **From Steps to Leaps ch. 5** _[Final chapter]_

 **Cuddle Time ch. 2** _[Ayahina]_

 **Passing Notes** _[Soma]_

 **Bubble Ghouls** _[Kirishima family]_

 **Sick Day** _[Nishikimi]_


	6. Chapter 6

**See notes at end of chapter***

* * *

Three weeks after they began their journey east, Lucy and her group finally set foot in Desierto. Following the song only Lucy could hear they were forced to endure the harsh sun of the desert country until they reached the coast.

"There's a marking on a rock," Lucy mumbled while rubbing her temples. The song had grown progressively louder the closer they got to their destination. Now she could barely hear Laxus' acknowledgement of what she said. "But only I can see it."

As soon as her feet hit the unstable sand Lucy stumbled and would have fallen flat on her face had Bickslow not been fast enough to catch her shoulders. She felt as if all of her energy was being sucked out of her all at once. The beach in front of her spun wildly when she tried to stand up and look around. "Wha..."

Bickslow handed Lucy's backpack to Laxus and swung Lucy herself up into his arms. There was no way she could walk by herself, he thought, and it would be quicker for them all if he just carried her to wherever they needed to go.

"Thank you, Bix," Lucy sighed, relieved that she wasn't in danger of falling anymore. She pointed with her chin to the left. "Take me to those rocks over there."

At the rocks Lucy squinted her eyes, studying the rocks as closely as she could despite her extremely low energy. On one inconspicuous rock there was a strange marking that could only be seen by Lucy's own eyes. It was light blue symbol that looked similar to Aquarius' mark but with a large trident sitting in the middle; it looked as if it had been painted on.

Lucy gestured Bickslow to put her down in front of the rock; she leaned against him heavily, however. Lucy covered the mark with her palm; it glowed bright blue as soon as her hand made contact with it. She grew rigid, mumbling unintelligibly.

To the groups surprise she stood up straight, as if hadn't been leaning onto Bickslow in order just to stand. They watched as she turned around, gasping when they saw that her eyes were glowing. Gone was their deep brown color, replaced by a bright blue light.

"Blondie?" Laxus waved his hand in front her face; she didn't even blink.

Without a word, not even a blink, Lucy turned away from her friends and slowly glided towards the water; she looked almost as if she was floating. Lucy continued walking even as she reached the water; instead of walking in the water, she was walking |on| the sea.

"Princess where are you going?" Bickslow tried to follow her, worried that she was obviously not herself. When he reached the edge of the water the clouds grew dark, waves began crashing against each other violently. It was clear that whatever called Lucy to the sea did not want anyone else to go with her.

Stuck helplessly on the wet sand, Bickslow and the rest of the group watched as Lucy disappeared into the water.

Moments passed by in silence with the group gazing at the calm sea, all wondering just what was happening to Lucy at that moment. Until a deep voice interrupted the silence.

"So I see Ms. Heartfilia as finally found the next key," the voice said approvingly.

The group looked to find a young man and woman standing on the beach a few feet away from them. The young woman looked angry, glaring at the sea as if to set it on fire.

"Yeah maybe she'll hurry the hell up and we can leave," the young woman grunted.

Laxus immediately recognized the voice as the woman who he had met when looking for the Hell's Brimstone hideout. His fists sparked as he turned to the woman.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" he growled. He felt his anger rise steadily the more he thought about the fact that this was the woman that killed Lucy's mother and wanted to do the same to Lucy.

"Oh calm down, sparky." Zita rolled her eyes. "We're just here to see how far your precious little sister is to finding all the keys."

Laxus glared at Zita hatefully. He was glad to see that her face, which could have been attractive, was marred with a large bruise and cut along one cheek; her left eye almost swollen shut. Her dark brown hair was hanging loosely around her face in a vain attempt to hide that side of her face.

"Zita is right," Graham nodded. "We have no intention of starting an altercation with you at this moment."

Graham side-eyed the group standing behind Laxus. Gajeel had turned his fists into steel, Freed had unsheathed his sword, Evergreen removed her glasses and Bickslow's babies were already in their Baryon formation. Each magus watched the two Hell's Brimstone members closely, not letting down their guard no matter what the man said.

"Why is it that you people are always so quick to fight?" Sighing, Graham shook his head. "Such savage behavior in this Fairy Tail guild."

Graham ignored the Fairy Tail members and trained his eyes on the water, waiting for Lucy to return with the second Titan Key.

/ / /

Lucy looked around, confused. She was under water, but could still breathe normally. Fish swam around her seemingly unaware of her presence. Two merfolk caught her eye; she was in what looked like a throne room, but without the throne. In its place was a pedestal of sorts with a faintly glowing key resting on it.

Inching forward for a better look Lucy noticed that they key looked as if it were made of water; the same symbol of Aquarius and the trident was etched into the handle surrounded by octopus tentacles. The merfolk guarding the key were equally interesting; they were both a blue-green color that almost blended in with the water. They had tribal-esque tattoos running down one arm and their chests. When Lucy moved closer to the key they moved aside silently, giving her complete access to the water key.

The song had since stopped ringing in Lucy's ears, meaning that she had reached the place it was telling her to go. Lucy reached out and touched the key softly, surprised that it felt completely solid to the touch despite its liquid appearance. The key glowed as soon as her fingers touched it, breaking up into huge drops of water.

Lucy stumbled backwards as the glowing transformed into a flash of blue light that momentarily blinded the Celestial Mage.

"So this is the mage that is the Chosen One?" A voice boomed in front of her.

The light disappeared revealing a huge blue merman floating where the key once sat. A large golden trident banged on the floor as the Titan brandished the weapon. There was crown sitting on the top of his head and his long white beard was braided, secure at the end with a seashell.

"I am Oceanus, Titan of the sea," he introduced, bowing his head.

"Uh, um..." Lucy wasn't sure what to say. "I'm Lucy?"

"You are not sure if that is who you are?" Oceanus tilted his giant head to the side, confused by this land-being's actions.

"N-No, I'm Lucy Heartfilia," Lucy stuttered, unnerved by the Titan's gaze. "I'm the one who's supposed to gather the Titan keys before Hell's Brimstone."

"Yes, I am aware you are the Chosen One," Oceanus nodded solemnly. "There is a test I have set up for my prospective Master."

"... Was that why I lost all of my energy?"

"Only the true Chosen One can survive that level of energy loss and still be able to summon me," the Titan announced.

"Are you saying that I could have |died| if I wasn't the one?" Lucy's temper flared. Titan or not, who did he think he was to threaten her life like that?

Oceanus studied Lucy silently as she glared at him. He chuckled suddenly, a sound that reverberated through the water.

"What are you laughing at?" Lucy demanded.

"You are just as short-tempered as my daughter described?"

"Your daughter?" Lucy was confused. According to mythology Titans had countless children, but she didn't know what that had to do with her. Or why there would be a Titan's child that knew Lucy.

Oceanus nodded to the chain around Lucy's neck; Aquarius' broken key floated lazily in the water. "I am the father of Aquarius, the Zodiac Spirit.

"She used to complain about you constantly whenever she visited," he finished blandly.

"I didn't know the Zodiac spirits had parents," Lucy muttered.

"Because she is the only one that does," Oceanus explained, shrugging. "There is a story behind it that is irrelevant to our meeting."

"Okay, then." Lucy intended to confront Aquarius about this piece of information once they were done here. "So is there something I need to do to hold your key or...?"

"You must find my wife next," Oceanus told her.

"You're wife?"

"Yes," the Titan repeated. "She is in a lake that is bordered by this and three other countries."

"And she's a Titan key?"

"Obviously," Oceanus snorted. "Why would a Titan like myself be wed to any other being?"

Lucy grimaced faintly. There was something about this Titan's behavior that was extremely reminiscent of the Water Bearer.

"I was just making sure, jeez," Lucy mumbled. "Are all of Aquarius' relatives so snarky?"

"Are all Celestial Mages single?"

Lucy stomped her foot. "Leave my love life out of this!"

The Titan smirked before disappearing into large drops of water. The drops merged with one another, forming into the key once again; it landed with a plop in Lucy's hand. Once Lucy closed her fingers around the key she was suddenly being pulled by an unseen force towards the surface of the water.

She broke through the surface, coughing up salt water.

"Lucy!" Her name was called from the shore and Lucy looked towards it to see five little totems flying towards her.

Lucy grabbed onto the totems and they lifted her out of the cool water, carrying her to the shore where her friends were waiting.

Evergreen met her at the water line and helped her from the small platform the totems had made.

"Thank you, Ever," Lucy smiled at the woman. She noticed that Evergreen looked worried. "Ever? What's wrong?"

"We have company, Blondie," Laxus answered for Evergreen.

Lucy looked at her brother and noticed that he, Bickslow, Gajeel and Freed were facing away from her. Their backs were rigid and their fists clenched.

"Guys?" Lucy called to them. None of them responded.

"Welcome back, Lucy Heartfilia," a low voice said with false politeness. "I assume you have returned with a new key."

Lucy would know that voice anywhere. She faced the Hell's Brimstone member warily, wondering what he was doing here. The girl standing just behind Graham was glaring with such hatred that Lucy felt a vague sense of deja vu.

"Do not worry, we are not here to hurt you or your... family," he said with disdain. "We are just making sure that you are searching for the keys. We shall take our leave."

Graham and Zita disappeared in a small puff of smoke; nobody noticed when Zita slipped a small envelope in the pocket of Lucy's backpack.

"Well," Lucy sighed after the pair was gone, "I was able to get the key."

She held up the water-like key for the group to see.

"And I know where to look for the next one."

"Are you okay?" Bickslow grabbed her shoulders and eyed her for any injuries. He sighed in relief when she looked completely fine other than being soaked with salt water.

"I'm fine," Lucy grinned, shivering in the cool air. "Just a little cold."

Evergreen grabbed Lucy's wrist and began pulling her away. "Let's get you changed into some dry clothes."

"You guys set up camp," the Fairy mage called over her shoulder. "We'll get moving again tomorrow!"

"Why don't you ever do any of the work?" Bickslow grumbled.

Evergreen huffed, ignoring the mage, and continued pulling Lucy behind her to a group of rocks big enough to change behind without being seen.

/ / /

"Hey Lucy, where did you get that necklace?" The group looked from Evergreen to Lucy's neck. "You weren't wearing it when you changed."

Lucy looked up from her journal and found five pairs of eyes on her. She fingered the locket hanging around her neck.

"I found it in my bag when I was looking for my journal," she told them. "It came in an envelope but there was no message."]

"How did it get there, then?" Laxus asked.

A small angry-faced totem popped up in the middle of the group. "Mean lady give to Lucy!"

"It was my mother's," Lucy muttered quietly. "I always wondered what happened to it after she died, but Dad wouldn't tell me."

"Then why did that woman have it?"

"I don't know," Lucy blinked. "But I have it back and that's all that matters."

The group fell quiet, save for the scratching of pen on paper coming from Lucy. She had taken to writing an entry almost every day, but now that there was all this going on with the Titan keys Lucy thought it would be smart to write down where she found each key. The passage before, however, was a detailed retelling on the dream she had the day before they left Fiore.

Aquarius' broken key clinked against the locket softly, their chains tangling together around her neck. Lucy felt slightly at peace having a piece of both her mother's with her at all times. She remembered the day that her father gave the locket to Layla, back when they were a happy family. Jude Heartfilia used to present Layla and Lucy with small trinkets such as matching lockets on random occasions, just to show how much he loved them. Inside the lockets were identical pictures of the small family; small Lucy sitting in a beautiful throne-like chair with her parents smiling behind her.

Lucy tried to gently pry her mother's locket open with her fingernails but it wouldn't budge. She thought about asking Bickslow or even Gajeel to help, but she didn't want the locket to be damaged. But whatever was inside the locket couldn't be harmful, she thought. It's was most likely the same picture that was still pasted in her own matching locket.

"Princess?"

Bickslow's low voice broke Lucy out of her reverie.

"Huh?" Lucy looked up from the locket, surprised to see that the fire had died down and everybody had gone to sleep. Except Bickslow. He was sitting next to her on a fallen log Gajeel fished out of the water.

"You seemed really into that locket, do you want me to open it for you?" He pulled a small whittling tool from his pocket and held it up for Lucy to see.

"No it's okay," Lucy shook her head, smiling. "I'm just happy to have it back."

"If you say so," Bickslow shrugged. He wasn't going to push her on something like that. "So what happened under the water when you were getting the key?"

"I met Aquarius' father," Lucy said blandly.

"... Spirits have parents?"

Lucy chuckled, "That's what I said!"

"Great minds think alike, Princess," Bickslow winked.

"The greatest thing about your mind is that you can carve amazing things out of wood," Lucy rolled her eyes. "Other than that it's a huge mess of perverted thoughts."

"You wound me, your Highness," Bickslow leaned back on the log, placing a hand to his chest as if in pain. "I can promise you that's not all I have on my mind."

"Oh really?" Lucy raised an eyebrow, eyeing him suspiciously.

Bickslow nodded sagely. "You're on my mind almost as much as carving is."

Lucy almost rolled her eyes; she thought Bickslow was joking around like he normally was, but there was something different this time. Instead of his tongue lolling grin, he looked serious. He had removed his helmet long ago and now the wind ruffled his mowhawks, the dying glow of the fire and soft moonlight turned his red eyes into molten rubies.

Distracted by his eyes Lucy didn't notice that Bickslow was slowly leaning forward until their faces were less than two inches apart. The tip of his nose brushed against hers and she could feel his breath. Lucy felt her cheeks warm when she saw that Bickslow's eyes were moving between her lips and eyes.

Just as Lucy was debating on crossing what little space there was between them, a ball of sand smacked against their heads.

"Yo, Bunny, maybe pick a more appropriate time for that?" Gajeel's voice grumbled from the direction the sand came from. "I didn't get up to take a leak wanting to see you and Dolly here suck face."

Bickslow leaned back quickly, grumbling about being interrupted.

Lucy whipped her head towards Gajeel, willing her cheeks to go back to their normal color.

"Maybe don't look, Gajeel?" Lucy tried to sound firm but her voice came out shaky.

Gajeel didn't comment on the sound of Lucy's voice or the fact that her face was redder than a red delicious apple. He simply shrugged and settled back down on his mat.

"Yer just lucky it was me that saw ya and not Lightning Rod," he yawned. A minutes later Gajeel's snores filled the air around the camp.

Lucy listened to Gajeel's snores for a few minutes before closing her forgotten journal and turning to Bickslow. He had scooted a few inches away from her on the log, putting an appropriate amount of space between them.

"Well I guess we should go to sleep," she suggested. "We've got another big day tomorrow."

"Yeah we do," Bickslow agreed. He moved off the log and spread out on the ground next to his babies. "Sleep well, Princess."

"Good night, Bix."

/ / /

It only took the group half of the day to get to the lake that was bordered by Desierto, Joya, Iceberg and Bellum. Lucy knew it was the right place, not because Oceanus had told her, but because there was an indescribable feeling in the pit o her stomach that told her so.

"Okay so..." Gajeel stood next to Lucy with his hands on his hips, surveying the lake. "Do you just, like, stand in the water or something?"

"Well, Oceanus didn't really say what I had to do to get to Tethys," Lucy hummed. "But I guess that's as good a start as ever."

Lucy smacked Gajeel's arm playfully. "I knew I kept you around for a reason, Gaj!"

Gajeel grumbled something about wondering why he decided to stick around this "blonde brat" and ignored the girl beside him. The rest of the group stood around them.

"Right, then." Lucy dropped her pack and began making her way towards the shore of the lake. Just as she was about to step into the water, two water nymphs appeared on either side of her. The two nymphs grabbed her arms roughly and pushed her away from the water. "Wha-"

"Hey!" Bickslow and Laxus yelled, storming over.

More nymphs appeared - about fifteen, Laxus had counted - and circle the group, their weapons pointed.

Lucy tried to remain calm. She looked from the spear pointed at her throat to the nymphs holding her. Her blood circulation was beginning to slow with how hard the nymphs were restraining her. "What's this about?"

"You dare bring death with you to desecrate the home of Tethys," the nymph to her right said with a hiss. Its grip tightened fractionally causing Lucy's arm to begin numbing.

"What do you mean?" Lucy looked between the nymphs. "Bring death?"

The nymph on her left reached forward with its knife and caught the chain of the locket. With a flick of its wrist, the nymph tore the locket from Lucy's neck, breaking the chain. The locket landed with a soft thud in the grass growing on the lake's shore.

"Hey! Give that back!" Lucy struggled against the nymphs' hold with gusto. She didn't even stop when the nymph's spear pricked the soft skin of her throat, drawing a small bit of blood.

Behind her, Laxus and Gajeel growled; they had smelled her blood.

"Lu, stop struggling before you get hurt worse!" Laxus demanded. He wanted to electrocute the nymphs keeping him from his sister, but he knew that lightning and water didn't mix well.

"But Laxus, my mother's locket!" Lucy continued to struggle violently. The spear pricking her throat dug deeper but Lucy was unfazed.

Another nymph materialized on the surface of the lake, dressed more importantly than the others. It slowly glided towards the shore where it leaned down smoothly and picked up the locket between its fingers gingerly. At first it looked as if the nymph was going to break the locket into pieces but instead it simply pried it open and showed the contents to Lucy.

"This is the death you bring with you, mortal," it said apathetically.

Inside the locket was a lock of golden blond hair - the same exact shade as Lucy's - stained burgundy with blood. There was a small blood red stone nestled into the hair.

"Lucy..." Laxus took a deep breath through his nostrils. "It smells like you... But it's not."

Lucy paled, her struggling coming to a complete halt. She could just barely make out the family photo distorted by hair and blood. The nymphs holding her released her arms, evidently deciding that she wasn't going to try anything. Lucy crumpled to her knees, shell-shocked.

"That's... Mom's hair... How...?" Lucy mumbled under her breath, brown eyes fixed on the locket.

Behind the nymph holding the locket a large flash of powder blue light appeared, blinding Lucy and her friends temporarily. When the light faded, all of the nymphs - including the one holding the locket - were kneeling with their heads bowed in the direction of the lake.

"Dione, please stop terrorizing children on my lake," the newcomer said calmly.

"I apologize, Mother," Dione, the nymph holding the locket, bowed her head even lower.

Lucy looked up at the lake blankly. Standing in the middle of the lake was a large woman with light blue hair and an even lighter blue chiton pinned on one shoulder. Vaguely Lucy was reminded of Juvia, simply because the woman moved like she was made of water and the excessive amount of blue on her person.

"Tethys..." Lucy stated blandly. She nodded her head almost imperceptibly; she had found Oceanus' wife.

"I know you, Lucy Heartfilia," Tethys' sing-song voice floated in the air around them. "You were the holder of Aquarius' key before you were forced to sacrifice it in a battle to save the lives of your friends. Aquarius complains often about you."

Normally Lucy would have scoffed and rolled her eyes, but she felt nothing. The realization that she was been wearing a piece of her mother since the night before was sinking in, numbing her to the core. Instead there was a soft grunt of acknowledgement from the girl.

Tethys eyed Lucy silently for a moment before turning to the nymphs surrounding Lucy's friends.

"Children," she addressed the nymphs, "there is no need for you to guard the humans, they mean no harm."

"But-" one nymph tried to argue.

"Do as I say, Pleione," Tethys' voice dropped a few octaves. Pleione nodded quickly and disappeared along with the nymphs that had held the group at weapon point. Like a switch had been flipped, Tethys cheered up almost immediately. "You must be the friends and family of Lucy. Welcome!"

The group looked at each other, confused. It was the first time they had been addressed by a Titan; they were unsure what to do.

Bickslow, however, had no qualms about being addressed directly by a deity. He immediately shot to Lucy's side, followed by his babies.

"Princess?" Bickslow dropped to his knees beside her, the babies hovering around worriedly. He touched her shoulder gently and Lucy looked up at him with wide eyes. It looked like he was studying his face before she crumpled into him, her hands covering her face.

Tethys turned to the pair. "I apologize for what Dione did," she said softly. "She is very particular about what comes to our home."

Laxus spoke up. "Is that really... her mother's?"

There was a short silence before Tethys finally answered in the affirmative.

The small clearing surrounding the lake fell into a heavy silence, not even the wind was blowing through the trees.

"Tethys, my love!" A loud voice boomed in the clearing, startling all but the Titaness.

"Oceanus," she sighed. The Titan appeared in a flash of light next to the Titaness. He immediately latched onto her, hugging her excitedly.

"It has been too long!" Oceanus cried, rubbing his cheek against his wife's.

"Oceanus," Tethys smiled sweetly. "Now is not the time."

Tethys firmly pushed Oceanus away from her and kneeled in front of Lucy and Bickslow.

"Lucy Heartfilia," she lifted Lucy's chin. "I will not tell you what to do, but unless you wish to be put through pain you would rather not have, I suggest you rid yourself of that locket immediately."

"I c-can't..." Lucy stuttered, her fists clutching Bickslow's shirt. "That's all I have left of her..."

Tethys sighed and straightened. "I did warn you.

"In any case," the Titaness continued, "I will never the less join you, if not only because Oceanus would never stop until I was with him."

The Titan beside her cheered.

Lucy nodded distractedly. She crawled forward and snatched the locket from the grass, holding it to her chest tightly. There was no way that she was going to let go of her mother.

/ / /

 _/Lucy regained consciousness abruptly. She tried to sit up but found that whenever she moved so much as a finger, pain wracked her body. Her eyes wandered, trying to locate something familiar._

 _She was lying on the ground in the middle of what looked like a deserted road. There was a carriage parked a few feet away, the horses stomping their feet impatiently and swishing their tails. On the road beside the carriage was a small girl with her hands covering her face, sobs shuddering her small body._

 _Lucy recognized the girl, but she didn't know how or from where. The little girl's cries echoed in the air around them._

 _A shadow fell over Lucy and her eyes wandered up black-clad legs. The person was obviously female, with her curves gracefully accentuated by her black, tight-fitting clothes. But the woman's face was obstructed. It was as if she was wearing a mask, but she wasn't._

 _"Layla Heartfilia," the woman drawled with a sinister grin. "If only you had listened to us."_

 _'Layla?' Lucy was confused to no end. She knew that she looked a lot like her mother but it should be obvious that she wasn't Layla._

 _Something flashed in the light and Lucy noticed, in horror, that the woman was holding a knife that dripped blood. The blood dripped onto the dirt road into an already large puddle. Lucy tried to look down at her own body and was horrified to see that she wasn't wearing her own clothes._

 _There on her body was a large magenta dress with bright pink accents. The dress was ripped to shreds in the front over her stomach and Lucy felt nauseous as she noticed something spilling out of her abdomen. She realized that her intestines had been ripped from her inside and effectively butchered. Her eyes went back to the woman standing over her._

 _"No..." Lucy tried to plead with the woman but her speech was obstructed with the blood slowly filling her mouth. She gargled and coughed but to no avail._

 _The woman's sinister smile widened further as she raised her arm and brought it down, plunging the blade in Lucy's eye._

 _The last thing Lucy registered was the sickening sound of the knife twisting in her eye socket and the little girl's shrieks./_

Lucy slowly woke up to the feeling of her shoulders being held and shaken.

"Lucy!" A voice called her name impatiently. "Wake up!"

Her eyes opened and when they finally came into focus, Lucy was confronted with Bickslow's and Laxus' faces. They both looked worried; Laxus looked as if he was about to shock her in an attempt to wake her up.

Lucy stared blankly up at the two men. Slowly she raised her arm and grasped her mother's locket resting between her breasts - Bickslow had repaired the chain for her. Tears obstructed her vision and spilled from the corners of her eyes.

Bickslow and Laxus sat back, confused as to why she was crying.

Ignoring them Lucy turned on her side and curled in on herself. She clutched the locket close her heart and sobbed silently. Vaguely she felt Laxus touch her shoulder and Bickslow's babies try to nuzzle themselves in her arms. But she just continued to cry.

Her mother didn't die in a carriage accident like her father had told her. She was murdered; and Lucy had witnessed it.

* * *

 **Okay so I know it's been so long since I've updated this lmao and I apologize. I've been so busy with school and motivation is becoming an issue, I'm just dying lmao school sucks. ANYWAY.**

 **There's gonna be some changes to this story! I'll try to update at LEAST once per month and that means slightly shorter chapter. I'm thinking of making them 5k each or somewhere around there. This is just so that I can have a steady update schedule and hopefully be able to write chapters that are somewhat DECENT.**

 **So that's that, and I hope you'll be patient with me!**

 **With love,**

 **Lau**


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